Softball | 6/23/2017 12:24:00 PM

ROCHESTER, NY - The RIT softball team enjoyed an excellent season in 2017, winning 22 games, finishing second in the Liberty League standings, while advancing to the Liberty League Tournament for the second consecutive season.
 
RIT started the season by winning 12 of its first 15 games and went 8-4 in league play. The Tigers also won their first Liberty League postseason game since joining in 2012. Five different Tigers earned All-Liberty League honors.
 
Freshman shortstop Erin Guinan (Geneva, NY/Geneva) emerged as a superstar for the Tigers in her debut season. Guinan, the 2017 Liberty League Rookie of the Year and All-Liberty League first team selection, led the team with a .423 batting average to go along with a league-leading 55 hits, 80 total bases, (second) 32 runs scored (second), 11 doubles, four home runs, 25 RBIs, six stolen bases, a .460 on-base percentage, and a .615 slugging percentage. The 80 total bases are the fifth most in one season at RIT, her 55 hits are eighth most, while her four homers are tied for ninth most.
 
Guinan, a four-time Liberty League Rookie of the Week selection, had a strong .954 fielding percentage in 151 chances while playing shortstop. She was named the RIT Female Athlete of the Week on April 10. Guinan had at least one hit in 30 games and recorded 18 multiple-hit contests. She enjoyed an 11-game hitting streak from March 11 to March 30. She was the lone freshman to earn National Fastpitch Coaches Northeast Region First Team honors and was RIT's first all-region first team selection since Ashley Kennedy in 2003.
 
Second baseman Danielle Hotz (Drexel Hill, PA/Upper Darby), the 2016 Liberty League Rookie of the Year, was a first team selection for the second consecutive year in 2017. RIT's second baseman, Hotz was second on the team with a .370 batting average, to go along with eight doubles, two triples, 19 RBIs, and a team-best 14 walks. Hotz was also second on the team with a .452 on-base percentage and .490 slugging percentage. In two seasons, Hotz has played in 69 games and is a career .359 hitter with 75 hits, 44 runs scored, 16 extra-base hits and 36 RBIs.
 
Junior first baseman Alexandria Lunderman (Manlius, NY/Fayetteville-Manlius) played in and started 36 games at first base, batting .292 with a pair of home runs and 17 RBIs, while recording a .984 fielding percentage. Sophomore Sarah Thayer (Tully, NY/Fabius-Pompey) patrolled the hot corner in 2017, recording 24 hits. She was also named to the Liberty League Championship All-Tournament Team.
 
Senior Sam Killian (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) and sophomore Emily Lazarus (Whitehall, PA/Allentown Catholic) split time behind the plate in 2017. Killian, a 2016 All-Liberty League first team selection, drove in five runs and had a .988 fielding percentage, while Lazarus chipped in with nine RBIs. The duo combined to throw out 10 would-be base stealers.

In the outfield, center fielder Tori Blaker (Corning, NY/Corning-Painted Post West), a 2016 Liberty League second team pick and 2015 honorable mention selection, garnered honorable mention accolades in 2017. She played in 37 games for the Tigers in 2017, batting .298 with eight doubles, two home runs, and 24 RBIs, while scoring 21 runs. In four seasons at RIT, Blaker was a career .329 hitter, with 120 hits, 27 doubles, five triples, four home runs, 56 RBIs, and 58 runs scored in 120 games played.
 
Classmate Alexa Farner (Gowanda, NY/Gownanda) enjoyed an excellent senior season for the Tigers in 2017, batting .267 with a pair of home runs, while driving in 17. She was also second on the team with 25 runs scored and five stolen bases, while patrolling left field. Sophomores Olivia Doret (Fairfax, VA/Chantilly) and Laura Weintraub (Syosset, NY/Syosset), along with freshman Tia Aunkst (Waterloo, NY/Waterloo) split time in right field.
 
RIT received strong pitching from the trio of senior Sierra Valentine (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena), junior Lauren Mahar (Rotterdam, NY/Schalmont), and freshman Torie Adler (West Chester, PA/B. Reed Henderson).
 
Valentine, the 2016 Liberty League Pitcher of the Year, earned All-Liberty League first team honors for the second straight year in 2017. She finished the season with a 10-7 record, 2.14 earned run average, 11 complete games and 94 strikeouts to just 26 walks in 111 1/3 innings, as opponents hit just .262 against her. Valentine was the RIT Female Athlete of the Week and Liberty League Pitcher of the Week on April 3. She finished her RIT career with 30 wins, a 3.28 earned run average, 56 complete games, five shutouts and 392 strikeouts over 474 1/3 innings, spanning 91 appearances.
 
Mahar finished the season with an 8-7 record, 2.33 earned run average, nine complete games and three shutouts. Mahar, who struck out 66 batters in 96 1/3 innings over 20 appearances, held opponents to a .259 batting average. Mahar, the RIT Female Athlete of the Week on March 13, won her first four starts of the season. In three seasons at RIT, Mahar has 23 wins, a 3.31 earned run average, 34 complete games, and six shutouts, while striking out 223 batters in 310 2/3 innings.
 
Adler emerged as a strong option on the mound in 2017, going 4-2 with a 2.16 earned run average with two saves and two complete games in 14 appearances. She threw a four-hit shutout in her second collegiate contest, had saves in back-to-back contests against Union, and was the winning pitcher in the dramatic come-from-behind victory over Rochester on April 28 that clinched a postseason berth.
 
The Tigers also excelled in the classroom, as Mahar and Valentine were 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-District selections. Nine Tigers were named to the 2017 Liberty League All-Academic Team for maintaining a 3.30 or better cumulative grade-point average.
 
RIT loses Blaker, Farner, Killian, Sarles, and Valentine to graduation.