For the first time since capturing the 2025 MAAC Championship, Marist took the field in Poughkeepsie against Niagara. The Red Foxes swept the Saturday doubleheader, improving to 4-0 in MAAC play.
Graduate student pitcher Ava Metzger continued her dominant stretch in the circle, tossing her third complete game in as many starts. The two-time reigning MAAC Pitcher of the Week, Metzger, has only allowed two runs (one earned) and has struck out 26 batters in the process. Despite only receiving six runs of support over her last three outings, Metzger’s excellence has covered it up.
Senior outfielder Peyton Pusey and sophomore catcher/utility Sienna Kunze – two members of All-MAAC teams a season ago – broke out in a big way against the Purple Eagles. After recent struggles at the plate, the duo combined for six hits and eight RBI in both games. In game two, Pusey recorded her first career two-home-run game, while Kunze drove in a career-high five runs.
In game one, Metzger and freshman pitcher/utility Ryan Hatty exchanged zeroes for the first four innings. Hatty’s deceptiveness appeared to keep the Red Fox hitters off balance. The freshman’s windup featured a bit of a hitch, and her slow changeup induced lots of weak contact. Hatty threw her changeup in any count, helping neutralize the Marist offense. After a leadoff single by Pusey, Hatty retired the next 10 hitters in a row. Prior to this single, the Marist leadoff hitter had not collected a hit since Feb. 27.
In the bottom of the fourth, graduate student Haley Ahr laced a single up the middle to break Hatty’s streak of consecutive hitters retired. Junior outfielder Samantha Rogers reached on an error, setting up the Red Foxes with runners on first and second with one out. Hatty got out of the inning unscathed, getting freshman utility Livia Wiltsie and senior catcher Isabella Manory to pop up on changeups.
In the top of the fifth, Niagara scraped across their lone run of the game. Freshman catcher/utility Adriana Hills reached on a fielding error by Ahr and advanced to second via a sacrifice bunt with one out. Metzger almost worked out of trouble, but a bloop single fell in between Wiltsie and Rogers in short right field to give the Purple Eagles a 1-0 lead. The unearned run was the first Metzger allowed since the fifth inning against the University of South Carolina.
Sophomore catcher/utility Sienna Kunze worked a leadoff walk to begin the bottom of the fifth. Kunze advanced to second on another sacrifice bunt, but a throwing error by Hatty allowed freshman first baseman/outfielder Lily Roumelis to reach.
With one out, Pusey laced the first pitch of the at-bat to right-center field to level the game at one. A batter later, freshman first baseman/outfielder Annabelle Geiser lifted a sacrifice fly to give Marist the lead. Geiser entered play with a .373 AVG, the third-highest amongst qualified freshmen in the MAAC.
Metzger retired the final six Purple Eagles in a row to preserve the win. Despite Niagara’s quality of contact improving in the later innings against Metzger, the Marist defense held firm as Pusey tracked down a couple of deep fly balls in center field. After a second consecutive start allowing zero earned runs, Metzger lowered her season ERA to 2.03.
Marist wasted no time backing redshirt sophomore pitcher Stella Blanchard, scoring three runs in the first inning of game two. A single by Geiser and a pair of walks drawn by Ahr and Rogers loaded the bases, allowing a sacrifice fly from Wilstie to plate the game’s first run. A much-needed two-RBI single from Kunze followed; the sophomore entered Saturday’s contests with just a .664 OPS.
An inning later, Pusey extended the lead to four with a solo home run, ending sophomore pitcher Abby Steen’s outing. Over the ensuing two innings, the Purple Eagles cut the Red Foxes’ lead in half. Niagara plated another unearned run off of an Ahr error in the third and a solo home run by senior catcher/utility Jolyn Gibbons in the fourth. In five innings, Blanchard ceded just two runs (one earned) and struck out eight.
After weeks of searching for offense, Marist erupted for five runs in the fourth inning—the team had not scored more than four in a game since Feb. 20 against Boston College. Pusey scampered home on a wild pitch, putting the Red Foxes in scoring position with runners on second and third and nobody out.
Marist nearly squandered the opportunity, but an error by Gibbons extended the inning and allowed the Red Foxes to take a 6-2 lead. Kunze then delivered the exclamation point, blasting a three-run home run to center field and giving Marist a seven-run cushion.
Pusey capped her stellar day at the plate with another home run, securing a run-rule victory for the Red Foxes. The senior entered the game with a .250 batting average and a .737 OPS, modest by her standards. After multiple hits in both games and two home runs in game two, Pusey boosted her average and OPS to .288 and .885, respectively.
Marist will look to sweep Niagara tomorrow at Gartland Field. First pitch is set for noon.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Photo by Cassidy Connors
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