If the weather remains decent in the coming weeks, the Clarkson University Softball team will be incredibly busy with now 20 games scheduled over the course of a 16-day period. That stretch begins this weekend when the Golden Knights take on the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of Technology.
The Golden Knights have played just a pair of games since returning from Florida, but that will all change prior to final exams. On Saturday, the Green and Gold will take on the Yellowjackets (9-7 overall) and on Sunday they will play RIT (1-11 overall), with each a scheduled doubleheader.
Clarkson is winless in its 14 times on the diamond, but that is not to say the team has not come away with some positives. Freshman Jamie Bridge (Plymouth, CT) leads the team with a .261 batting average and a .320 on-base percentage, with two hits coming last weekend against Union, including one that broke up a no-hitter in the seventh inning. Classmate Ali Schwenzfeier (East Haddam, CT) is second on the team with hitting and has a team-best three doubles, while sophomore Kat Tamburro (Frankfort, NY) has played a solid shortstop and leads the team with six stolen bases. Bridge has also been valuable on the mound with five complete games and a 4.69 earned run average. She is one of only two pitchers in the Liberty League that is averaging better than a strikeout per inning and has 47 whiffs in 40-plus innings.
For Rochester, Tayler Fravel is hitting a robust .519, the second-best average in the conference. She has just four extra-base hits on the season, but leads the league in hits overall with 27, leading to a .635 slugging percentage and .544 on-base percentage. Nina Korn just nips Fravel in slugging with a .647 rate, thanks to a team-best four home runs. Brittany Grage has also put three out of the yard and has 16 runs batted in, which is tied for the second in the league. Grage is also one of the top hurlers in the league with a 1.77 ERA and 49 strikeouts in 51-plus innings, while allowing just 11 walks. Eleni Wechsler has nearly matched Grage's efficiency on the mound, having walked only 11 in the same amount of innings, but with 28 strikeouts and a 2.32 ERA.
RIT has struggled this year to a 1-11 record through 12 games, having just been swept by St. John Fisher on Thursday. However, two of the Tigers' hitters have been standouts, as Brittany Griffin is hitting .447 with nine doubles for a .684 slugging percentage and Sarah Wolcott has a .438 battinv average with a .594 slugging percentage and a .514 on-base percentage. Tori Blaker is also hitting .367 for RIT, but her slugging average matches her batting average because she is without an extra-base knock this year. Sierra Valentine is the team's top pitcher with 23 strikeouts in 43 innings, however she has allowed 28 walks and 65 hits in that span. The rest of the Tigers' pitchers have combined to allow 50 hits and 22 walks with just eight strikeouts in 20 innings.
