CU Softball Preview - at Rensselaer/St. Lawrence (4/13-14)

By: April 12, 2019

Connor Koehler

Softball | 4/12/2019 12:56:00 PM

Back in Liberty League action, the Clarkson University Softball team hits the road for one long road trip and one short one as the Golden Knights will take on Rensselaer on Saturday afternoon and then return to Potsdam that night to prepare for a doubleheader against Route 11 rival St. Lawrence University on Sunday.

Live Stats – at Rensselaer
Live Stats – at St. Lawrence

The Series vs. RPI: Clarkson split the regular-season series with the Engineers in both 2016 and 2017, but RPI is up 9-2 all-time against the Golden Knights. RPI won both games last year, 7-1 and 11-1.

The Series vs. St. Lawrence: Clarkson is 6-4 in 10 all-time meetings against the Saints, but is just 1-3 all-time versus St. Lawrence in Canton. In those four games, Clarkson has actually outscored SLU 13-11 as the Saints have won three close games and fallen in one lopsided affair.

Key Stats for Clarkson (16-10, 1-3 Liberty League): The Clarkson pitching trio of Olivia Zoeller, Sam Mennig and Leah Allen ranks in the top 10 in the country in control with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 4.52. The Knights' staff has struck out 122 hitters (176.1 innings) while allowing only 27 walks, compared to only 96 strikeouts in 207 innings in 2018. Mennig ranks in the top 20 in the country with seven strikeouts for every free pass. Clarkson has also already surpassed last year's run total (129 runs in 2019, 117 in 2018) and has 15 more extra-base hits in 2019 compared to last season despite having played eight fewer games. Senior Liz Caggiano leads the conference in runs batted in (28) and is fourth in the league in slugging percentage (.627).

Key Stats for Rensselaer (18-6, 2-2 Liberty League): The Engineers have dropped four straight games to make their record appear a little less gaudy, but RPI can hit with the best teams in the region. The Engineers are batting .354/.423/.482 as a team with 55 stolen bases in 59 tries. A key to that offense is freshman Jessica Torch, who is already impressing with solid numbers, including a .400/.461/.450 batting line. She also is one of just nine players in the country averaging more than a stolen base per game with 25 swipes in 27 tries. Juniors Veronica DeStefano (.424/.440/.553) and Quin Garant (.424/.528/.610) also do their part to help the RPI offense, with DeStefano also contributing 15 steals and 25 runs scored. Though Jaime Cleasby and Taylor Spargo each have lower earned run averages, Erika Holowka is the team's number one starter. The first-year collegian has struck out 66 hitters in 76.2 innings with a 2.65 ERA.

Key Stats for St. Lawrence (10-8, 0-4 Liberty League): Although the Saints are above .500 overall thus far, the numbers in the albeit brief league season shows a slow start. St. Lawrence dropped all four league contests thus far, posting just a .170/.224/.240 slash line as a team while allowing a .385/.414/.514 line for opponents. The small sample size can be redirected upward quickly with a solid showing from the team's top hitters. Skylar Hein is hitting .415/.484/.566 across the board with 15 runs batted in while Taylor Armijo is batting .383/.439/.467 with 11 steals and 17 runs scored. Armijo's numbers took a hit during the first conference weekend as she was just 2-for-13, but she put the ball in play consistently with only one strikeout. Caroline Young has pitched nearly half of the team's innings this year, posting a 2.77 earned run average in 53 frames.

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Players Mentioned

#23 Leah Allen: P/IF; 5' 8"; Junior; R/R

#21 Liz Caggiano: IF; 5' 9"; Senior; R/R

#25 Sam Mennig: P/IF; 5' 6"; Senior; R/R

#9 Olivia Zoeller: P/OF; 5' 4"; Freshman; R/R

Players Mentioned

#23 Leah Allen
: 5' 8"; Junior; R/R
: P/IF

#21 Liz Caggiano
: 5' 9"; Senior; R/R
: IF

#25 Sam Mennig
: 5' 6"; Senior; R/R
: P/IF

#9 Olivia Zoeller
: 5' 4"; Freshman; R/R
: P/OF

Scoreboard

Clarkson University Athletics

CU Softball Preview - at Rensselaer/St. Lawrence (4/13-14)

Players Mentioned

#23 Leah Allen

#21 Liz Caggiano

#25 Sam Mennig

#9 Olivia Zoeller

Players Mentioned

#23 Leah Allen

#21 Liz Caggiano

#25 Sam Mennig

#9 Olivia Zoeller