After clinching the MAAC Softball Regular Season Championship, Marist Softball closed its regular season by sweeping Iona, including a 6-2 Senior Day win.
Marist (43-7-1, 20-2-1 MAAC) finishes its regular season on a 13-game winning streak. Iona (28-19, 18-8 MAAC) finishes as the No. 2 seed for the MAAC championships. The Gaels head into the playoffs on a five-game losing streak.
Senior Captain Maddie Pleasants dominated both sides of the ball for the Red Foxes. On the mound, Pleasants recorded eight strikeouts in six innings while giving up four walks and two hits, including a no-hitter through four innings. At the plate, she hit 3-3 with a home run and two RBI. Her homer was her second in as many days.
Pleasants finishes her season with a 14-3 record and 170 strikeouts, which is tied for the most in the MAAC. She also slammed 20 home runs, which is second in the conference.
“Maddie’s just had an incredible year on both sides of the ball. She’s pitched well, she’s hit well. She’s just been tremendous this year, and I couldn’t be more proud of her,” said Marist head coach Joe Ausanio.
In the bottom of the first inning, Marist started hot. On the second pitch of the game, graduate student shortstop Miah McDonald belted a shot to left field for a leadoff homer to take the early 1-0 lead. Not only is that McDonald’s third home run of the series, with homers in each game, but it raises her season total to 23, which is atop the MAAC.
The Red Foxes continued to generate offense, as freshman infielder Sienna Kunze made Iona pay and connected with a home run just over the LF wall to make it 4-0. Marist hit two homers before registering an out.
“I think that was a great way to start the game off, but I wasn’t trying to do too much. I knew that she was probably gonna attack me inside, so I kind of just worked on getting my hands through the ball,” said McDonald.
Marist honored six seniors and two graduate students, including utility Lauren Morrell, Isabella Milazzo, Ronni Howard, Maddie Gore, Kaitlyn Husic, Kiley Myers, along with McDonald and Pleasants.
Pleasants continued to be a machine on both sides of the ball. She struck out the Iona side and crushed a two-run homer for a 6-0 lead in the second inning. That knocked out sophomore pitcher Allison Hoppe, as freshman Nadia Andarowski replaced her. Hoppe gave up five hits and 6 ER, along with a strikeout in 1.2 innings of play.
“I kind of have a separate mindset for each. With pitching, if I’m failing at one and succeeding at the other, I try not to bring failures into success. So it’s just about separating and knowing my job as a player on the field,” said Pleasants.
In the fifth, Iona finally got through Pleasants’ pitching. The Gaels drew back-to-back walks to start the inning. Later in the inning, freshman Caelin Kosvitch smacked a two-RBI double to cut the lead to 6-2. That ended Pelasnt’s no-hit bid.
In the last inning, Pleasants was replaced by senior Isabella Milazzo. Milazzo started the inning with a strikeout looking and finished the job to secure the win for Marist to close out the regular season.
“It’s definitely a great way to go into the playoffs. You’re playing well, you’re winning games, you’re doing all the little things that you need to do to win games,” said Ausanio. “That’s huge going in because this team that we played today was in first place going into this weekend. I think we sent a message to the rest of the conference like we’re here to win this.”
Marist hosts the MAAC Championships beginning on Tuesday, May 6. The Red Foxes begin their playoff run on Thursday, May 8, at 12:30 p.m. and will look to win the MAAC Championship for the first time since 2023.
“I think we’ve really take what happened last year in the MAAC Tournament to heart because we knew that’s how it shouldn’t have ended. So I think having the chance to host back here is a really big thing for us and coming out with a ring,” said McDonald.
Edited by Marley Pope
Graphic by Caleb Kroon; Photo from Kira Crutcher
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