TROY, N.Y. – Ithaca College staged a two-out rally in the bottom of the fourth inning to break a 1-1 tie and went on to a 6-1 victory over the University of Rochester in the first round of the Liberty League softball championships on Thursday.
 
Rochester will play Union College in the elimination game at 12:30 pm on Friday. Union lost, 8-0, in six innings to host RPI. Ithaca will play RPI at 10 am. In the double elimination format, the winner of the UR-Union game will play the loser of the RPI-Ithaca game at 3 pm. The winner of the IC-RPI game advances to Saturday's championship round. The winner of Friday's 3 pm game will play on Saturday. The eventual winner will receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs.
 
In the current NCAA Division III poll in the East Region, Ithaca, RPI, and Rochester are all ranked in the top five.
 
The Yellowjackets are 15-15 overall. Ithaca improved to 26-8. Earlier this year, Rochester split a twinbill with Ithaca. The Bombers won the opener, 4-3. Rochester won the nitecap, 5-1.
 
Rochester did not play Union this season. The teams were scheduled to meet on April 28 at Southside Field. Consistent rain forced the first game to be halted with UR ahead, 5-0, heading into the top of the second. Union split a twinbill vs. Skidmore on April 29 and the Dutchwomen's win secured a Liberty playoff berth as the #4 seed. The April 28 DH was cancelled.
 
With the score tied at 1-1 through three and a half, Rochester starter Elizabeth Bourne got the first two hitters on groundouts. Hannah Anderson tripled to right center and Abby Shields walked. Hannah Peters singled up the middle, scoring Anderson and moving Shields to second. Ellie Murray hit an RBI single and took second on the throw, leaving runners at second and third and the Bombers ahead, 3-1.
 
Hannah Leahy relieved. She gave up two hits and the Yellowjackets committed a pair of infield errors that led to three more runs and the 6-1 final.
 
Rochester took a 1-0 lead in the second. Gianna Melillo singled and Jessica Conforti ran for her. She moved to second and then to third after two passed balls. Jocelynn Blackshear fought off a 2-2 count and flew out to centerfield scoring Conforti.
 
UR put two aboard in the third – Sammy Re reached on an error and Marissa Russo was safe on a fielder's choice with two down before IC pitcher Haley Congdon earned a strikeout. IC tied it in the third on a double by Peters, a groundout, and a sac fly from Allie Colleran.
 
Congdon went the distance for Ithaca, allowing one hit, walking two, and striking out four. The UR run was unearned. Congdon started against Rochester in the first game on April 21. She pitched the first five innings. UR eventually tied the score at 3-3. Congdon returned in the seventh as a reliever with two down in the seventh and the bases loaded. She induced a game-ending popout.  She pitched one inning of relief in game two, won by UR, 5-1.
 
At the LL playoffs, Bourne pitched 3.2 innings, allowing five hits, five runs (four earned), with two walks and one strikeout. Leahy yielded two hits in 2.1 innings, one unearned run, and walked one. Bourne is 6-5 this season.