The University of Rochester softball team opened up its quest for a fifth straight Liberty League Tournament title on Thursday afternoon, defeating Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 4-1 at Southside Field in the opening game of the 2025 Liberty League Championship at Southside Field.
 
UR's victory extends Rochester's winning streak at home to 13 straight this season, and 30 straight overall on its home field, dating back to April, 2023.
 
With the win, Rochester (24-11) moves on to the winners bracket of the double-elimination tournament, while Rensselaer (25-10), will have to fight its way out of the losers bracket over the next two days. Earlier in the morning on Thursday, RPI won an 8-0 decision in five innings over St. Lawrence during the Liberty League play-in game.
 
UR's Riley Laygo provided the big hit in Rochester's victory, smacking her team-leading 10th home run of the season, clearing the center field fence for a 3-run shot in the bottom of the third inning.
 
In the circle, junior Molly Broccolo turned in a terrific effort, allowing just one run on five hits over her complete-game performance. Broccolo picked up her 14th win of the year while striking out one and walking none.
 
After Broccolo set down the first nine batters of the game for RPI, UR's opening hit came off the bat of Katelyn Wade in the bottom of the third inning. After a Savannah Nowak sacrifice bunt, Bailey Nicholoff drew a walk to put two runners on with one out.
 
Laygo followed by blasting a 1-1 offering from Gaby Heim to straight-away center field, clearing the fence by a few feet despite a wind that was blowing in all game long.
 
UR looked to pile on, getting two more walks in the inning, but Heim was able to get a big strikeout to strand the runners and keep Rochester ahead only by three.
 
Broccolo continued her dominance in the circle, setting down the Engineers 1-2-3 in the fourth, allowing Rochester to add on to its lead in the bottom of the inning. Wade reached on a 1-out double to left and stole third. Then, on a Nowak grounder to third, an RPI bobble allowed the run to score, boosting the lead to 4-0.
 
In the fifth, the Engineers got their first hit of the game off of Broccolo, a single by Addison Shaffer, but the UR right-hander erased the next three hitters on just five pitches to end the frame.
 
The score remained 4-0 into the seventh inning, when RPI finally was able to string a few hits together. Callista Adorno led off with a single and Shaffer followed with a base hit to put two runners on.
 
On the next hitter though, Rochester turned a big double-play, with Molly Mason doing most of the work at shortstop to get the first out before throwing over to first to complete the huge defensive play.
 
An infield single followed by Maddy Brooks, allowing Adorno to cross home and break the shutout, but Broccolo got another ground ball out on the next batter to end the game.
 
Both teams finished with just five hits in the game, with UR's Wade and RPI's Shaffer recording the only two-hit games. Wade scored two runs for the Yellowjackets while Laygo drove in three with her home run.
 
In the loss, Heim surrendered 5 hits, 4 runs and 4 walks, striking out 6.
 
The tournament continues on Friday, with the winners bracket matchup at 10 am and two elimination games to follow at 12:30 pm and 3 pm. UR gets the winner of the Clarkson/Ithaca matchup, while RPI will face the loser in the first afternoon game.