On a gorgeous Saturday at Gartland Athletic Field, the Red Foxes faced off against the Siena Saints. The teams split the series, with Marist winning the first contest 6-0 and then falling to the Saints 5-3 in the second game.
The game started off with something out of the ordinary: in Siena’s dugout a mysterious winged creature had made a home above the team’s bench. After the game, the animal was confirmed to be a bat by Siena Head Coach Bill Lajeunesse. “Coach Joe and I removed the bat, we put him in a bucket and got him outside,” said Lajeunesse.
Meanwhile, Marist used their bats to get an early lead in game one. During the Red Foxes first at bat, freshman catcher Kaley Coltrain bombed one behind the fence for a grand slam; the dinger was her first-career home run. With the Red Foxes up early 4-0, they were in good position to control the game from there on out.
Freshman pitcher Calista Phippen was in the circle for yet another dominating performance, throwing a shutout. She pitched the whole seven innings and struck out eight. Phippen also only allowed one hit during the game. After the game junior Ali Milam called her outing “phenomenal.”
Later in the bottom of the fifth inning, senior first baseman Madison Lee doubled to left center which drove in two runs to give the Red Foxes six runs for the day. Marist was also able to get seven hits in the first game and Coltrain led the team in hits with two of those seven. “I think in the first game we did a really good job of getting clutch hits with runners on base,” said Marist Head Coach Joe Ausanio.
After the brief intermission, the sun started to set over the Hudson and the two teams resumed play. Phippen was given the opportunity to start the second game, putting her total innings played at nine for the day. In game two, it was the Saints who were able to get in the scoring column first. Siena drove in two runs during the first inning, and in their second inning they added another three runs, to make the score 5-0 Saints.
Following Siena’s scoring frenzy, Phippen was pulled and senior Megan Beiermeister took over for the Foxes. Phippen was given the loss which puts her record for the year at 13-3. Beiermeister pitched the rest of the game, striking out four while only allowing three hits.
Milam led the way in hitting for the Red Foxes, with three hits, a walk and also drove in all of Marist’s three runs. Her double to left center in bottom of the third gave Marist their first two runs. “We did a great job swinging the bat. We just couldn’t finish,” said Milam.
Later in the sixth inning, it was Milam again singling a hard hit ball past the third baseman to bring home Madison Lee. The score read 5-3 at the end of the sixth and Marist had one last shot at tying the game up. Marist’s late game rally was unsuccessful and Siena retired three last batters to end the game.
“I think we left a ridiculous amount of runners on base, we left the bases loaded three times.” said Ausanio. “When you do that you won’t win games”.
After the split, Marist still sits in a good place in the conference as their record is 23-18 with 10 games left in the season. The Red Foxes are currently second in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), they will look to keep their high seating in tact as they play crucial conference games against Quinnipiac, Monmouth, and Rider.
“We are all just here for each other, everyone is picking each other up,” Milam said.
Their next game will be on this Thursday in Hamden, Connecticut to take on the Quinnipiac Bobcats.
Edited by David Salamone