SOUTHIDE FIELD – Rochester booked a spot in the Liberty League softball playoffs by sweeping a doubleheader from RIT on Sunday afternoon. The Yellowjackets won the opener, 9-5, then took the nitecap 4-0.
 
The sweep gives Rochester a Liberty League record of 9-5 and an overall record of 19-17. Rochester is tied at 9-5 with RPI and Clarkson. The Liberty League office will announce the seedings and pairings for the tournament, scheduled to start on Thursday, May 2. RIT is 10-24 overall, 2-10 in the Liberty League.
 
Ithaca College, which finished 11-1 in league play after splitting with RPI on Sunday, will serve as the tournament host. Head to head among the playoff teams, Rochester lost a twinbill to Ithaca. The Yellowjackets swept RPI and split a DH with Clarkson.
 
Sunday's game was Senior Day on the River Campus. It was postponed from two weeks ago. Before the game, the four seniors – Rachael Pletz, Gianna Melillo, Elizabeth Bourne, and Harleigh Kaczegowicz – were honored with their parents. Once the games began, they each played a role in the sweep.
 
Game One: Rochester 9, RIT 5:
Melillo hit a grand slam in the bottom of the first inning to get Rochester off to a 4-1 start. She was 2-4 and drove in five runs. Alizah Ayon homered for Rochester. Jen Carson was 3-4 with two RBIs and one run score. Toni Anne Hahn was 2-3 with an RBI. The Yellowjackets strung together 13 hits and five walks.
 
Bourne pitched a complete game seven-hitter. She allowed five runs (two were earned), walked one, and struck out five. The win was her eighth this year against seven losses.
 
Torie Adler pitched the first three innings for RIT (five hits, five earned runs, three walks, one strikeout, one HBP). Melissa Gould came on in the fourth. In 2.2 innings, she yielded eight hits, four earned runs, walked one, and fanned one. Laura Weintraub pitched to two batters in the sixth. She walked one and got one out .
 

Adler walked three of the first four hitters she faced. Melillo hit the second pitch she saw off the right field foul pole for a grand slam. After Bourne popped out for the second out, UR loaded the bases again, but Adler got out of it. In the second, Ayo lofted her 12^th home run of the season down the right field line for a 5-1 lead.

RIT scored an unearned run in the first – Racquel Estrada's outfield fly was dropped for a two-base error. Erin Guinan doubled her home immediately. Rochester led, 4-1, going into the second. Danielle Hotz of RIT lined her first home run of the year to center field leading off the second.
 
Rochester stretched the lead to 9-2 in the fourth. The big hit was a two-run double to center by Carson. Melillo singled home the first run of the four-run burst. Caron followed, and Hahn singled her home.
 
RIT scratched out two unearned runs in the fifth, aided by two Rochester errors. Hannah Trumble reached on an infield roller that was booted. Then Guinan lined a fly ball to the wall in the outfield that was dropped. It scored two. A single by Hotz, a one-out double by Sarah Thayer, and a sac fly from Samm Carroll got RIT within 9-5 through six.
 
Bourne settled down. After the Thayer double with one out in the sixth, she retired five of the next six hitters. That included the Carroll line drive sac fly which Marissa Russo ran down in the outfield. She gave up a two-out double to Guinan in the seventh, then retired Brianna Bilich two pitches later to end it.
 
Game Two: Rochester 4, RIT 0:
Hannah Leahy pitched her first complete-game shutout of the season for the Yellowjackets. She allowed seven hits, no walks or runs, and fanned five. She stranded eight Tiger runners, six in scoring position.
 
The win was her seventh this year against six losses. Adler went the distance for RIT. She allowed 11 hits and four earned runs with no walks or strikeouts. She hit one batter.
 
Rochester scored three in the first and one in the second. Adler asserted herself after that, allowing only five baserunners, two of whom were caught stealing.
 

Alexis Pope and Ayon hit one-out singles. Kaczegowicz grounded out to first with the runners advancing. Jen Carson singled to short which brought home Pope with the game's first run. Ayon moved to third. Carson stole second base. Pletz lined a full-count pitch down the left field line for a 3-0 lead.
 
In the second, Jessica Conforti singled with one out. Sammi Re singled through the left side and both women stole a base with Pope at bat. She dropped a single into left field that scored Conforti for what turned out to be the last run of the game for the Yellowjackets.
 
RIT threatened in the third. With one down, Holtz singled up the middle. Olivia Doret singled her to second. Hannah Trumble forced Duret at second and Estrada flied to right. Guinan singled to left starting the fourth. She finished with two hits in each game.
 
In the Tiger fifth, Thayer singled. Hotz bunted. Thayer beat the throw to second, putting two on with no outs. Doret lined a ball off Pope's glove at third base. Hahn picked it up and tagged  Thayer for the first out. Trumble was thrown out at first and Estrada struck out.
 
In the RIT sixth, singles by Guinan and Bilich plus a sac bunt by Laura Weintraub put runners at second and third and one down. Leahy induced Madisen Baldwin to pop out to second, then struck out Thayer. She set down the Tigers in order in the seventh.