Marist softball experienced an “eventful” Tuesday during their doubleheader sweep in Jersey City, New Jersey against Saint Peter’s.
Marist (30-14, 12-4 MAAC) dominated in a five-inning 8-0 game one victory over Saint Peter’s. The Red Foxes then collapsed early in game two but picked themselves back up after being down 8-2 for a come-from-behind 12-8 game two victory.
During her last start, graduate student pitcher Kiley Myers battled for 10 innings, allowing just three hits and one run. Unfortunately for Myers, the offense was blanked in the 10-inning defeat to Iona.
In game one against the Peacocks (15-27, 5-11 MAAC), Marist immediately made up for Saturday’s lack of run support for Myers.
Sophomore outfielder Peyton Pusey scored from first after senior infielder Miah McDonald smoked a ball up the middle. The first-inning single was just the beginning of McDonald’s historic day.
McDonald cemented herself in first for the all-time single-season home run record in the second game of the doubleheader and broke the single-season RBI record.
“She’s a very special player, really fun to watch and she just does everything well,” said head coach Joe Ausanio.
Redshirt sophomore infielder Haley Ahr brought McDonald in, hitting a ball off the center field fence for an RBI single, extending the lead to 2-0 in the first inning.
Marist’s offensive outburst continued in the second inning. With two runners on, Pusey sent her second home run of the season over the right field fence, giving Marist a 5-0 lead.
Junior utility Maddie Pleasants smashed a double down the left field line to bring Ahr home after her second base knock, adding a run to their 6-0 lead.
Myers breezed through the Peacocks lineup, allowing two baserunners in five innings while the Red Foxes added two more runs in the top of the fourth via an Ahr sacrifice fly scoring Pusey and a Pleasants solo shot.
Following the fifth inning, the run rule was called with Marist up 8-0, giving Myers an economical 59-pitch five-inning shutout for her 12th victory of the season.
Game two started as a complete 180 from game one as Saint Peter’s applied the early pressure against Pleasants.
Freshman outfielder Sydney Orndorff and graduate infielder Cara McNulty doubled, giving the Peacocks a 1-0 lead. Pleasants walked two to load the bases, allowing the Peacocks to add another run.
In the second inning, everything that could go wrong went wrong for Pleasants and the Red Foxes. Saint Peter’s added three more runs on five hits and two errors; each ball in play narrowly found grass or was just out of reach of a Marist defender.
“Games aren’t played on paper. You have to execute plays, take good swings, make good pitches. When you don’t do that, the beautiful thing about our conference is that anybody can beat anybody on any given day. We did not come in here and take them lightly. We know that they’re a very capable team. We were very fortunate to get out there with that second one,” said Ausanio.
After two innings and a 5-0 Peacocks lead, freshman pitcher Morgan Lipanski looked well on her way to her second win of the season but the Red Foxes were unnerved by the deficit.
Freshman infielder Samantha Rogers homered after senior Alyssa Grupp doubled to bring Marist within four runs but junior utility Jess Forte got both runs back with a two-run blast of her own. Her ninth home run of the season put Saint Peter’s up 8-2.
“I was really proud of Sam Rogers. I’m giving her all the props in the world for that at-bat because she didn’t swing at tough pitches, and next thing you know, she pops one over the fence and we’re right back in the game,” said Ausanio. “I thought that Alyssa Grupp swung the bat well the entire day; Haley Ahr swung the bat well the entire day. The beautiful thing was even though we got down, they didn’t seem to care. They just went about their business and battled.”
Grupp put Marist back within four, doubling to center field, scoring Pusey and Ahr. Graduate student outfielder Sophia Recrosio swapped places with Grupp with an RBI double of her own, trimming the deficit to three runs. The double was big for Recrosio who had been in a funk, batting .142 AVG in the past seven games.
Pleasants struck out two batters, going one-two-three in the bottom of the fifth for her first clean inning; suddenly things appeared to be tilting in her and Marist’s favor, entering the sixth inning down 8-5.
“[Pleasants] battled the entire day, that was the thing I was most proud of. She really beared down in the last two innings,” said Ausanio.
Freshman pitcher Angelina Wagner came into relief following a leadoff walk to junior utility Ronni Howard. Wagner walked Pusey, the first batter she faced, bringing McDonald to the plate.
McDonald sent a line drive to right field, dropping in front of a diving Lacomb; the Red Foxes were off and running.
Howard easily scored, Pusey went from first to home and McDonald arrived at third for her seventh triple of the season; standing atop the record books tied for first with 56 RBIs, the most RBIs in single-season history.
Pleasants entered the box with Marist only trailing 8-7 and left with Marist up 9-8, hitting her second home run of the day; giving the Red Foxes their first lead.
Ausanio attempted to bring Myers into relief along with other defensive substitutions in the bottom of the sixth but could not without an over 20-minute umpire discussion.
“I made a bunch of defensive changes and [the umpire] didn’t give that last change to the official scorekeeper or the opposing coach, but he did acknowledge that I gave him the change, he just did not report it,” said Ausanio.
Myers made quick work of Saint Peter’s in the sixth and Marist added three runs in the seventh.
Howard and Pusey doubled putting Marist up 10-8, then McDonald put an exclamation point on game two, smashing a two-run blast to straightaway center for her 15th home run of the season and was welcomed by plenty of congratulations at the plate.
Myers closed out the 12-8 victory in the seventh, giving Marist a very timely double-header sweep and their first since March 22.
“I’m really proud of this team’s resiliency… when we do things right, we’re a fun team to watch and today was really fun, albeit eventful,” said Ausanio.
Canisius (13-5 MAAC) and Niagara (11-5 MAAC) are on the Red Foxes’ heels for first place in the MAAC. But, with two wins today, Marist maintains control of the conference. The Red Foxes will go for the series sweep against Saint Peter’s tomorrow at noon.
Edited by Cara Lacey
Photo from Marist Athletics
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