Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. – The State University of New York at New Paltz softball team split its 2016 home-opening doubleheader with the non-conference Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Tuesday afternoon at Mary Gray Deane Field, winning game one, 3-0, before falling by an 8-2 final in six innings in the nightcap.
 
Game two was called following the sixth inning due to darkness, but the result will stand nonetheless given that the two teams met the inning requirement to consider the contest an official game.
 
New Paltz moves to 6-6 overall with the results and next hosts The Sage Colleges tomorrow for a 3:30 p.m. doubleheader. RPI moves to 10-4 with the results and entertains the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts tomorrow in its home-opening doubleheader at 3 p.m.
 
Game 1: New Paltz 3, RPI 0
 
Senior pitcher Katie Rutcofsky (Plainview, N.Y./Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy) went the distance in the circle in the Hawks' game-one shutout victory, and New Paltz capitalized on Engineer miscues while scattering four hits to eke out the win.
 
New Paltz got on the board in the bottom of the fourth, as sophomore right fielder Danielle Bruno (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollow Hills East) capitalized on a dropped fly ball. After a groundout advanced Bruno to second, sophomore first baseman Lauren Cappello (New City, N.Y./Albertus Magnus) pushed a two-out single to shallow center field, which plated Bruno for the first run of the game.
 
The Hawks added insurance in the sixth, as Cappello drove in Rutcofsky off a sacrifice fly before Bruno came around to score on a wild pitch during the next at-bat. RPI was retired in order in the top of the seventh, giving New Paltz its first shutout since blanking York (N.Y.) College in back-to-back games during its trip to Myrtle Beach, S.C., last year.
 
Four Hawks combined for the team's hit total, while sophomore right fielder Devan Puhl went 2-for-2 to lead the Engineers offensively.
 
Rutcofsky scattered six hits and struck out six in seven innings to earn the win, while RPI's junior pitcher/designated player Stephanie Caudle saddled the loss, yielding three runs (two earned) off four hits and five walks while striking out two.
 
Game 2: RPI 8, New Paltz 2 (6 inn.)
 
With strong gusts of wind in game two, both offenses came alive, but RPI's bats were able to crank out hits in bunches to give the Engineers an 8-2 win.
 
After nearly missing on a power swing on the first pitch she saw, junior center fielder Fallon Spriggs (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston) redeemed herself on the next pitch, as she ripped a home run to straightaway center field in the first New Paltz at-bat of the game to stake the home team to a 1-0 lead.
 
RPI evened the tally at 1-all after starting off the top of the third with four straight hits, and following a pitching change that brought junior pitcher Taylor Corwin (Wantagh, N.Y./Wantagh) into the game, Corwin registered the first out of the inning by recording a bases-loaded strikeout. The Engineers took the lead during the next at-bat, though, with one run coming across on a single by senior second baseman Danielle Balestrini to give RPI a 2-1 cushion.
 
After the Engineers swelled the edge to four with a three-run fourth, Cappello got a run back for the Hawks in the bottom of the frame with a sacrifice fly. RPI was held scoreless in the fifth before erupting for three more runs in the sixth. Despite several Hawk batters working counts in the bottom of the sixth, RPI was able to get out of the inning, which proved to be the final half inning in the game due to impending darkness.
 
Six different New Paltz student-athletes finished with a hit, while Puhl and senior catcher Taylor Ten Eyck each went 3-for-4 with three runs scored to key the Engineer attack.
 
Cappello shouldered the loss in the circle for New Paltz, permitting two runs off five hits and a walk while striking out one, while senior pitcher Victoria Hepworth earned the win for RPI (two runs off four hits and four walks). Freshman pitcher Stephanie Deeb earned the save, yielding just two hits and one walk while striking out four across two scoreless innings.