Taking a trip back to the 2023 season, Marist softball claimed their fourth Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) championship. The following season, the Red Foxes were expected to repeat as conference champions, being picked first in the 2024 Preseason Poll and recording 17 regular season conference wins.
They fell short as the overwhelming favorites, shockingly losing the first two games as the conference tournament host and top seed.
“It always sucks to play your worst two games in the last couple days of the year at the tournament,” said three-time MAAC tournament champion and reigning MAAC Head Coach of the Year Joe Ausanio. “I’ve always said the hunter becomes the hunted. Everybody’s gunning for us. Everybody’s going to be bringing their A game against us.”
The target is on Marist’s back once again this year.
The Red Foxes were selected as the favorite for the second consecutive year in the 2025 MAAC Softball Preseason Poll, accruing 11 of 13 first-place votes. They also seized seven of the 11 Preseason All-MAAC selections, including graduate student infielder Miah McDonald, the Preseason Player of the Year.
Left with a sour and disappointing taste, the 2025 Red Foxes have started the season 4-1 feeling more together, motivated and prepared.
“It lit a fire under us. We knew how good we were and how we didn’t finish, going out in the second round. It’s helping us get to that common goal by playing for each other, not for ourselves,” said McDonald.
Not often does a collegiate softball team have a third straight conference championship opportunity with a core that remains largely the same as it did three seasons ago. With 15 of 18 Red Foxes returning, largely may be an understatement.
“I feel very fortunate. These kids have stayed loyal; the transfer portal is crazy. None of them decide to jump in there, I think they realize that they have a good thing here. We just need to finish the job,” said Ausanio. “They understand how I like to manage the game, they know the science, they know the situations and how we want to go about it.”
The talent, as evidenced by the preseason poll and ranking 15th in D1Softball’s Mid Major Top 25 Poll. The question becomes what, if anything, needs to be different to successfully put together Ausanio’s science and produce another conference championship.
McDonald and graduate student pitcher Kiley Myers both emphasized playing loose and having fun, pointing to better outcomes when that happens. As veteran players, they have seen it all and, at this point, the entire team has had everything thrown at them from heartbreaking losses to the pinnacle of a conference championship.
“All the unknowns have kind of been eliminated. We know what to expect and how to be better prepared, and other contributors to the chaos. I think we’ll handle it better this year,” said junior catcher Isabella Manory.
Name a team statistical category last season and the Red Foxes likely finished first among MAAC teams. The pitching staff was first in team ERA, wins, strikeouts and BAA; the offense finished first in average, runs, hits, extra-base hits, home runs and stolen bases.
“We had the best team on paper. We had all of the major awards. We just didn’t execute when it’s time to execute at the end… I think [now] we’re all playing more cohesive because we’re comfortable with each other,” said Myers.
A large contributor to the offensive powerhouse was McDonald returning from injury last season. The 2024 MAAC Player of the Year produced video game numbers, hitting .387/.414/.824 and set Marist’s single-season records for homers (20), RBIs (70), hits (77) and assists (166).
Once again, she’s expected to lead this year’s roster with Myers, the lead pitcher and the team’s ace. Myers earned MAAC Co-Pitcher of the Year last season, finishing the year with a 15-8 record, 149 strikeouts, 19 complete games, four shutouts and a .236 BAA.
“[McDonald and Myers] both lead by example. They’re both ready for game time and they get everyone else focused on the game… [they] both play with a chip on [their] shoulder because [they] are two of the best players I ever played with,” said redshirt junior infielder Haley Ahr.
Myers and McDonald have plenty of support behind them. In the case of junior outfielder Peyton Pusey, she is slated to continue leading off and anchor the outfield as the center fielder.
Building off a stellar 2023 freshman season, Pusey hit .397/.469/.587 in 2024, adding 19 stolen bases, totaling 63 runs scored and walking 25 times to 28 strikeouts. The toolsy outfielder is an instant tone-setter, recording seven hits in her first 18 at-bats this season. She also struck out five times, something she wants to reduce.
“She starts chaos from the very first at-bat,” said Ahr. “She throws the defense off and then the rest of the lineup comes up, and we take advantage of that.”
As dangerous as Pusey leading off and McDonald in the two-hole is, opponents cannot let their guard down heading into the heart of the Red Foxes’ lineup. Following McDonald is Ahr, the 2023 MAAC Rookie of the Year and 2024 MAAC Defensive Player of the Year.
Ahr finished last season as the MAAC batting champion with a .422 average, striking out just five times in 166 at-bats, homering nine times and racking up 51 RBIs. She was named to the 2025 D1Softball’s Top-10 List at Utility/Designated Player and, in 12 at-bats this season, has six hits, four RBIs and a 1.167 OPS.
In the cleanup spot, senior pitcher and infielder Maddie Pleasants’ resume matches up just as well with the three sluggers in front of her. Pleasants earned the 2022 Co-Rookie of the Year, the 2023 MAAC Player of the Year and was selected to the First Team All-MAAC last season.
Last season, Pleasants hit .343/.424/.537 while bolstering a .961 OPS, a 26:8 walk-to-strikeout ratio and eight homers. She also appeared in 14 games in the circle, finishing with a 6-6 record and striking out 57 batters in 65 innings. Pleasants shined in her first outing of 2025, striking out 11 in 6 ⅔ innings pitched, allowing a run on three hits.
“Having [Ahr and Pleasants] after me, I know even if I don’t get on and PEP [Pusey] does, I know that those two will hit her in especially because they are two batters that are hard to get out,” said McDonald. “How they approach their at-bats and how they can make a pitcher work and account just shows how good they are.”
Accompanying Pleasants and Myers in the circle will be standout sophomore pitcher and outfielder Anna Sidlowski, redshirt freshman pitcher Stella Blanchard, senior Isabella Milazzo and freshman pitcher Emma Bayor.
Sidlowski, the reigning MAAC Rookie of the Year, features a dropball in her pitching arsenal which aided her in producing a 2.47 ERA, 12 complete games and a 15-4 record her freshman season. She also contributed at the plate logging 12 hits in 49 at-bats as an outfielder.
Sidlowski struggled in her first start against McNeese State but settled in a bit relieving against Bucknell.
Baylor, the new addition to the staff, is known for her changeup. The Connecticut native finished her high school career with a 53-18 record, a 1.02 earned run average, seven no-hitters, 15 shutouts and 807 career strikeouts. She surrendered five hits and two runs over 2 ⅓ innings during her first collegiate start against Bucknell.
“To say it perfectly, it’s a staff. Last year, [Myers] threw more innings than she ever had, and I didn’t want that to happen. I want to try to spread the innings out this year so that when we get to the tournament, everybody’s fresh,” said Ausanio. “We have Stella [Blanchard] coming off of surgery, who, if she gets healthy, we’re going to have some serious depth on them.”
Ausanio anticipates the return of Blanchard around April 1, the first series against rival Canisius.
Manory is a friendly face behind the dish for the entire pitching staff, excelling defensively as the team’s primary catcher for the past three years. Manory boasts a career .995 fielding percentage and limited the running game last season by throwing out eight of 22 attempts.
Offensively, she showed increased offensive promise as an MAAC All-Championship team member last year. She totaled a 1.545 OPS in Texas and has already homered twice to begin 2025.
“I’m very comfortable with [Manory]. I feel really confident throwing to her, and if I don’t make a pitch, she’s always there to pick me up. I can just give her a look and she knows what I’m thinking so we’re really connected,” said Myers.
The rest of the starting lineup come conference play projects to include sophomore outfielder Samantha Rogers, freshman infielder and catcher Sienna Kunze, senior utility Ronni Howard and junior outfielder Oliva Hampton.
“I noticed that both Rogers and Manory, have stepped up a lot. They weren’t thrilled with their year last year and they want to contribute more. I think that people are realizing that, we can’t always rely on the top four to win us games, and that everybody has to contribute,” said Ausanio.
Two seniors, first baseman Maddie Gore and outfielder Kaitlyn Husic, also received starts during the Texan Classic as Ausanio continues shuffling the lineup around Pusey, McDonald, Ahr and Pleasants during weekend tournaments. Sophomore outfielder Taylor Anderson provides speed off the bench while senior utility Lauren Morrell and redshirt freshman transfer Marissa Scarano from UAlbany are additional left-handed bats off the bench.
Anderson recorded nine stolen bases last season, five of Morell’s nine career hits are for extra bases and Scarano, a Hudson Valley local, started for her varsity high school team since seventh grade and recorded a walk in Texas.
Hampton started 36 games at Coastal Carolina, primarily playing the corner outfield positions and recording one error over 45 putouts. During the Texan Classic, Hampton sat in the middle of the lineup playing left and right field. The junior transfer has a knack for pop, breaking her high school’s record for the most home runs in one season her junior year and homering five times at Coastal Carolina last season.
Kunze slotted in at second base and catcher in the Texan Classic. Kunze, a cross-country recruit, played at Perry High School in Arizona. Her senior season finished with a .438 average and nine home runs in 96 at-bats. She homered in her first collegiate game last weekend and finished the tournament with a .333/.333/.600 and .933 OPS.
Howard has improved each season and her numbers significantly climbed last season. She is off to a solid start through five games, batting 3-for-9 with two doubles.
Rogers, a MAAC All-Rookie Team member, appears to be transitioning to the outfield after playing some shortstop her freshman season. Rogers finished the Texan Classic at .455/.600/.727, a 1.327 OPS and added a homerun.
Following their first tournament in Stephenville, Texas, Marist travels to South Carolina for the Battle at the Beach tournament starting on Feb. 14, which includes formidable opponents of Notre Dame and Coastal Carolina.
“I say it all the time, you should be as mentally exhausted as you are physically exhausted every game because we’re not allowed to take one pitch off… Make sure that you know every scenario in your head, and when you do that, you will be mentally exhausted,” said Ausanio.
The rest of the tournaments include the Stetson Invitational in DeLand, Florida, the Winthrop Tournament in Rock Hill, South Carolina and the East Tennesse State Tournament in Johnson City, Tennessee for a total of 25 games before beginning MAAC play on Mar. 22.
Edited by Marley Pope
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore; Photos from Marist Athletics
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X, TikTok, and Bluesky. Sign up to receive daily alerts here.