Marist softball made its second trip to South Carolina on Friday, Feb. 28, to participate in the Coach Cooke Memorial Tournament. The Red Foxes (14-5) won four of five with multiple historic moments during the weekend. Three of Marist’s wins were shutout victories and the fourth was a 3-1 win over Youngstown State.
After two games, graduate student infielder Miah McDonald broke two records, one held for nine years and one held for nearly a quarter-century at 24 years. The reigning MAAC Player of the Year and two-time All-MAAC First-Teamer became the all-time RBI and home run leader in Marist program history.
“I knew when I recruited [McDonald] that she had the potential to do that. I’m very happy that she has blossomed into what I always thought she was going to be, and that is potentially the greatest player that’s ever come through Marist,” said Marist head coach Joe Ausanio.
Redshirt junior infielder Haley Ahr also got in on the record-breaking action, tying the school record for most home runs in a single game.
Graduate student pitcher Kiley Myers set the tone against Southern Indiana, Marist’s first opponent of the weekend. Myers, now 8-0, tossed six innings and struck out three while only allowing three hits in a dominant 11-0 victory.
“She’s hitting her spots and not letting anybody square anything up on her. She’s just really pounding the zone and pounding people on their hands, and people are just struggling to square her up,” said Ausanio. “It’s very similar to Mariano Rivera, where you just kept throwing one pitch and, you know, nobody could square it up.”
In the opposite dugout, Marist reached base 21 times on 14 hits and seven walks; six of the 14 hits left the diamond for home runs.
Three of Marist’s homers came courtesy of Ahr in the third, fourth and seventh innings which tied the single-game home run program record. Senior pitcher and designated player Maddie Pleasants homered in the third after singling home a run in the first inning.
The Red Foxes were in complete control from the get-go and freshman Sienna Kunze added a solo shot in the third inning to increase Marist’s lead to 5-0 through three. Ahr’s second homer of the game and sophomore outfielder Samantha Rogers’ RBI single in the fourth added to a 7-0 Marist lead before McDonald came up in the seventh and increased the lead to double digits.
In her 150th career game, McDonald’s seventh-inning three-run home run left her atop Marist’s all-time RBI leaderboard with 147, passing class of 2016 infielder Kyrsten Van Natta, who accumulated 145 RBI over 219 games. That would be the first of two records McDonald broke on Friday.
Ahr added her third home run of the game and freshman pitcher Emma Bayor closed out the seventh for Marist’s eleventh win and put Winthrop on deck in the afternoon.
Pleasants manned the circle in the Red Foxes’ second game on Friday and stuck out eight batters over six innings. Freshman left fielder Katie Beck put a damper on her outing with all five RBIs in the 5-1 Eagles victory.
“We felt [Beck] was struck out on the pitch before, and the three-run double was the same thing, we thought we had her struck out. That doesn’t ever show in the box score,” said Ausanio. “It’s frustrating as a coach when you’re making good pitches and the umpires are just not giving you that call.”
In the second inning, Beck homered to give Winthrop a 2-0 lead but McDonald provided a response in the third with her second record-breaker of the weekend.
McDonald’s fifth home run of the season was her second record-breaker of the weekend. The solo shot was her 34th career home run, breaking a record held by 2001 graduate center fielder Amanda Koldjeski for the most home runs all-time.
The game remained 2-1 as Pleasants and senior pitcher Megan Powell went pitch for pitch through five innings. Beck entered the box for her third at-bat against Pleasants in the sixth inning and provided the dagger. After working the count from down 0-2 to 3-2, the freshman hit a bases-clearing double, extending Winthrop’s lead to 5-1.
Powell threw seven innings of two-hit softball against the Red Foxes, walking three batters and striking out six as McDonald’s homer ended up being the only blemish of her outing.
Marist turned the page the next day, beating Youngstown State and Charlotte to begin the month of March.
In Saturday’s first game against Youngstown State, sophomore pitcher Anna Sidlowski pitched her second straight complete game, leading the team to a 3-1 victory.
The Red Foxes recorded eleven hits behind Sidlowski while the reigning MAAC Rookie of the Year allowed six. Pleasants put Marist up right away with a first-inning RBI single. An error by McDonald with two outs allowed the Penguins to tie the game 1-1 in the fifth inning but Marist quickly took the lead back in the bottom half.
Junior outfielder Peyton Pusey led off with her first home run of the season and third hit of the game; McDonald and Ahr followed suit with a double and single respectively. Pleasants drove McDonald in from third with a sacrifice fly for a 3-1 Marist lead. Sidlowski kept Youngstown State at bay the rest of the game for her second win of the season.
“[Sidlowski]’s been working very hard on her motion, staying compact and making a lot less effort. She’s kind of a max-effort pitcher and right now, she’s done a good job of minimizing all of her extra motion,” said Ausanio “It’s really shown because she’s now commanding all of her pitches, and she’s been working hard with her change-up, which has been a key pitch for her.”
Myers followed up Sidlowski’s complete game with another one of her own in the 6-0 shutout against Charlotte. Two seniors, utility Ronni Howard and first baseman Maddie Gore, started the scoring in the second with a single apiece. With Marist up 2-0, Kunze homered for the second time in the tournament in the fourth inning, giving the Red Foxes a 3-0 lead.
Through five innings, Myers recorded five strikeouts and Rogers added an insurance run in the sixth inning with a sacrifice fly. McDonald added a two-run homer in the seventh for a 6-0 lead and Myers finished the 49ers with her sixth strikeout.
Marist finished their weekend with a five-inning run-rule victory on Sunday, beating St. Bonaventure 9-0. Pleasants was spectacular in the circle, striking out nine over four innings and allowing three hits and a walk. Pusey, McDonald, Ahr and Kunze each recorded two hits; Ahr and Kunze started the scoring with an RBI double and RBI single in the first inning.
“[Kunze] is so solid, she just does everything well. She was the freshman that we had to have because we were trying to replace [Alyssa] Grupp. We feel like she has stepped right in and done that and we definitely see her as a key piece of what we want to do,” said Ausanio.”
Confusion ensued with two outs for the third Red Foxes run of the first inning, ultimately allowing Pleasants to “steal home” because of a count discrepancy. McDonald added two more runs the following inning with a two-run shot and Ahr provided the big blow with a grand slam in the third, putting a stamp on Marist’s 9-0 win.
“[Ahr]’s elbow is still bothering her but it’s almost changed her swing to be more efficient. Balls are jumping off her bat,” said Ausanio.
Pleasants’ outing increased her strikeout-walk ratio to 48:13, significantly improving the 175:179 over the previous three years.
“She’s never stopped working hard and perfecting her craft,” said Ausanio. “We’ve always known she’s had that potential so to see it finally coming through, there’s no time like the present.”
Ahr and McDonald homered four times throughout the weekend; Ahr finished a scorching 9-16 with eight RBIs and McDonald went 8-18 with nine RBIs.
Pusey, Kunze and Howard all provided offensive sparks as well. Howard recorded a hit in four of five games, Kunze was 8-14 with two homers and Pusey finished 8-17 at the plate, converting all three stolen base attempts and walked twice.
The Red Foxes will look to keep things rolling in Tennessee on Friday, March 7, for their final non-conference tournament before MAAC play. The East Tennessee State Tournament will feature Mercyhurst, East Tennessee State, and two more games against St. Bonaventure.
Edited by Cara Lacey
Graphic by Cara Lacey; Photo from Jaylen Rizzo
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X, TikTok, and Bluesky. Sign up to receive daily alerts here.
