After suffering their first conference loss last Friday, Marist softball split the doubleheader in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, taking a 7-6 loss and a 4-0 win on a windy Tuesday afternoon against Rider.
Rider (13-27, 8-8 MAAC) won their eighth straight game and handed Marist (31-8-1, 8-2-1 MAAC) their second straight loss by taking advantage of a huge fifth inning to capture game one. The Red Foxes bounced back in game two behind the pitching of senior Maddie Pleasants and two two-run home runs in the third inning.
Two graduate student pitchers entered the circle for game one in Kiley Myers and Anna-Mari Groskritz. Each allowed eight hits and five earned runs. The five runs allowed is a season-high for Myers, who entered with a nation-leading 0.71 ERA.
“Kiley didn’t have her best stuff today, but she was out there battling,” said Marist head coach Joe Ausanio.
Rider’s team leader in RBI, sophomore first baseman Kendall Reda-Fesal, hit a huge go-ahead double in the fifth inning to lift the Broncs in game one. Before the fifth, Marist controlled from the get-go.
Two batters into the game, graduate student Miah McDonald homered in the top of the first inning to straightaway center field. McDonald’s 18th homer of the season put Marist up 1-0 right away and led the Red Foxes to an eventual 5-0 lead.
Senior third baseman Ronni Howard scored from second on a bunt to third by junior center fielder Peyton Pusey. Broncs senior third baseman Olivia Burroughs made an errant throw to first, allowing everyone to reach safely and add to Marist’s 2-0 lead.
Marist remained in control through the first four innings; redshirt junior Haley Ahr singled for two more runs in the third inning, extending Marist’s 4-0 lead. Rider’s offense finally sparked against Myers, scoring their first run of the game in the fourth on an RBI single from sophomore catcher Abby Cruz.
Freshman second baseman Sienna Kunze got the run right back with a sacrifice fly in the following half inning. Everything suddenly collapsed for Marist from there.
Entering the bottom of the fifth with a comfortable 5-1 lead, Myers let up a lead-off double, followed by a single in what became a six-run frame for the Broncs.
Back-to-back RBI singles by sophomore second baseman Kiersten Buchanan and senior designated player Kristyn Gardner resulted in the lead being cut to 5-3 and Myers being pulled for sophomore pitcher Anna Sidlowski’s first appearance in 11 days.
Sidlowski entered, hoping to stop the bleeding with two runners on and one out, but Rider continued putting balls in play and hurting the Red Foxes with paper cuts. A ball trickled feet in front of home plate down the third baseline, loading the bases.
“We had an opportunity to get out of the inning with the infield in. A groundball was hit to Sienna [Kunze] and, unfortunately, she did not come up with the ball, it got through and the floodgates opened,” said Ausanio.
The next batter, Kunze misplayed a groundball that got through her legs, allowing two runs to score and tying the game at 5-5. The big blow finally came as Reda-Fesal walloped a ball to the center field fence, giving Rider their first lead of the game at 7-5.
Groskritz added two strikeouts in the sixth and entered the seventh with the two-run lead. Pleasants cut the lead to one, leading off the seventh with a solo home run. Groskritz retired the next three batters for Rider’s sixth straight win.
“Everybody is trying to beat you, and when they do, they’re cheering like they won the MAAC championship,” said Ausanio. “I told them in the huddle at the outfield, ‘you have to remember the target is on your back. We have to play every single game as if we’re being eliminated. We need to play with that kind of urgency every single time.'”
Pleasants faced off against senior pitcher Kathryn Schmierer for game two. Pleasants went the distance for her third complete-game shutout, striking out 12 while allowing four hits and three walks. Schmierer was pulled after the Red Foxes tallied two homers off her in the decisive third inning.
McDonald homered first in the third inning to give Marist a 2-0 lead. Her second of the day looked eerily similar to the first, going back to straightaway center field to catapult her back into the nation’s top five for home runs. With the wind now howling, Kunze added a two-run homer of her own, putting Marist up 4-0.
The four runs ended up being all that Pleasants needed. Over her seven innings in the circle, she recorded multiple strikeouts in four of them. Ahr maintained her top-five batting average in the nation by going 3-for-7 and added two RBIs.
“Maddie P came out and threw another gem for us. 12 strikeouts, seven innings, really threw the ball well. They didn’t really square a ball up so it was, it was really nice bounce back,” said Ausanio.
The Red Foxes face MAAC newcomer Sacred Heart in a three-game series starting at noon on Friday, April 18.
Edited by Marley Pope
Graphic by Kira Crutcher; Photo from John Jankowski
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