Iona traveled up to Poughkeepsie to take on Marist softball in a doubleheader matchup that ended in a split to start the three-game series.
Marist (27-14, 9-4 MAAC) took game one 6-2, backed by a pair of stellar performances from senior utility Miah McDonald and junior pitcher Maddie Pleasants. Iona however, snagged game two in a 10-inning pitcher’s duel by a score of 1-0.
Pleasants got into trouble early, giving up a 2-run shot to senior catcher Jamie Sheeran in the first inning. She settled down after the homerun, with a nice play by junior third baseman Ronni Howard, along with Pleasant’s second strikeout of the inning.
Marist wasted no time responding with a single from sophomore outfielder Peyton Pusey, and a 2-run shot from McDonald off Iona starter Samantha Rieb, knotting the game up at two.
Both Pleasants and Reib put together 1-2-3 second innings after giving up the first inning bombs. However, it was Pleasants who continued to coast, while Reib got into trouble again with McDonald.
McDonald sent her second homer in as many at bats over the right field fence, giving Marist a 4-2 lead in the third inning. McDonald finished off her day at the plate with a triple, going 3-3 with four RBI’s.
“Miah’s just a special athlete,” said Marist head coach Joe Ausanio. “She’s just a lot of fun to watch, especially when she’s doing good…really really took some good swings.”
Pleasants continued to coast with another 1-2-3 inning in the fourth. The Red Foxes threatened again in the bottom-half of the frame, and with two runners on, Pusey lined a two out single into right, delivering two more runs for Marist and extending the lead 6-2.
Pleasants refused to allow a runner on in the fifth and sixth innings, retiring 16 of her last 17 since the first inning home run. While things got a little shaky with the bases loaded in the seventh, Pleasants was still able to cap off her performance on her eighth strikeout of the day, pitching a complete game. The Red Fox pitcher allowed just two hits in the victory today.
“Maddie’s been throwing well,” said Ausanio. “She’d been throwing well in her bullpen, she threw well against Lehigh last weekend…I knew she would do a great job for us today and I’m just really proud of her effort.”
The bats went quiet for both sides in game two, much in part due to the pitching of graduate student Kiley Myers for Marist, and both sophomore Maddy Lowry and senior Alyssa DeJianne.
Marist had a couple of opportunities in the second and fourth inning with runners on first and second, but couldn’t cash in. Lowry finished her day in the fourth inning, allowing four hits and no walks.
As for Myers, she was cruising with no real trouble at all, with a few 1-2-3 innings in the second, third and fifth frames. It was not a strikeout dominant day for Myers, with five when it was all said and done, but she forced ground balls and lazy fly balls pretty much all day long. Iona never had a runner in scoring position in ten innings of play.
In the bottom of the fifth, Iona made the switch to put DeJianne on the mound, who got through the fifth with no trouble at all.
The game continued on into the seventh with Myers still on the mound, getting Marist to the bottom of the seventh where their best opportunity presented itself.
The Red Foxes received single off the bat of junior infielder Ronni Howard, along with a pair of walks from Pusey and McDonald, all with two outs in the inning. It brought up Pleasants, who worked a 2-2 count but popped up to short to end the inning.
In extra innings, the next real opportunity came for Marist in the ninth, with both Myers and DeJianne still in the game. Junior utility Lauren Morrell led off with a walk and Howard got drilled with a pitch in the head, luckily in the helmet, to have two runners on with nobody out. With the top of the order coming up, they went down 1-2-3 to end the inning, with Marist missing another opportunity to end the game
“Listen, we had our chances,” said Ausanio. “We had runners in scoring position with the top of our order up and we just didn’t get a hit when we needed it.”
Myers resiliently came back out for a tenth inning, getting two quick outs and continuing to smoothly navigate through the Iona lineup for the fourth time in the game. However, she allowed a solo shot over the left field fence to sophomore utility Hailey Guerrero, giving Iona the 1-0 that they held onto in their path to victory.
Myers finished off the tenth, giving her a line of 10 innings pitched, five strikeouts, three hits allowed, one walk, and the crucial one earned run.
“Kylie was awesome,” said Ausanio. “She’s been nursing an injury and for her to come out and throw 10 innings like that and just be dominant was just incredible to watch.”
Myers’ ten inning performance is the longest of her Marist career. She entered the game with a 1.99 ERA, which dropped to 1.89 after the loss.
Marist will look to win the rubber match tomorrow with the first pitch coming in at noon.
Edited by Luke Sassa
Graphic by Raegan Van Zandt; Photo from Jaylen Rizzo
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