In 2025, Marist softball delivered a season for the ages — one so dominant that head coach Joe Ausanio called the group a “coach’s dream.”
The team racked up 48 total wins, 21 of them coming against MAAC opponents — both program bests. The team captured the MAAC regular season and tournament championships while also earning a No. 3 seed at the College Station Regional, marking the first time the Red Foxes did so in five NCAA Regional appearances.
Despite losing eight seniors to graduation, including two-time MAAC Player of the Year Miah McDonald, 2025 MAAC Pitcher of the Year Maddie Pleasants and standout pitcher Kiley Myers, the Red Foxes were still selected to finish first in the 2026 Preseason Coaches’ Poll. Having won each of their first five conference games, the Red Foxes enter the heat of the regular season with the same goal as last year: winning.
Myers and Pleasants anchored the rotation a season ago, combining to start 46 of the team’s 58 games; the Red Foxes won 40 of those contests. Myers finished the season tied for the national lead with 11 shutouts along with a tidy 1.66 ERA, while Pleasants struck out 189 hitters in 131 innings and slugged 22 home runs.
The quartet of McDonald, graduate student infielder Haley Ahr, Pleasants and senior outfielder Peyton Pusey formed a dangerous top of the lineup. Each player posted an OPS north of 1.000, a batting average above .385 and an on-base percentage above .475, leading an offense that averaged 7.3 runs a game.
McDonald became the third player in conference history to win player of the year in back-to-back seasons and paced the conference in slugging percentage (1.026) and OPS (1.568), while leading the nation in total bases (195) and ranking second in home runs (28).
The team graduated three more players who made at least 35 starts: first baseman Maddie Gore, third baseman Ronni Howard and outfielder Kaitlyn Husic. While they did not match the offensive production of Pleasants and McDonald, their experience and familiarity with Ausanio’s expectations proved to be invaluable.
“[Last year’s team] knew how I liked to run things,” said Ausanio. “They knew where to be offensively and they knew where to be defensively with cut-offs, relays, first and third situations and bunt defenses. They just knew the system.”
With so many departed players, this season has provided a new challenge.
“This is by far the biggest roster overhaul I’ve had here,” said Ausanio. “I’ve had to do a lot more coaching this year and explain why we do the things that we do.”
To re-tool the roster, Ausanio brought in eight new players, seven of which are freshmen. The new players accompany the key returners in Ahr, Pusey and sophomore catcher/utility Sienna Kunze, who were named to the Preseason All-MAAC team. Marist had the most selections with three and Ahr was named the Preseason Player of the Year.
To start MAAC play, Ausanio’s lineups consisted of at least four freshmen to surround Ahr, Pusey, Kunze, junior outfielder Samantha Rogers and senior catcher Isabella Manory. Manory is currently leading the team in OPS (1.009) and home runs (3), while serving as a strong presence behind the plate for the pitchers.
Freshman first baseman/outfielder Annabelle Geiser has been a force at the top of the lineup alongside Pusey, leading the MAAC in on-base percentage (.540) and walks (23). The freshman also ranks second on the team in average (.375) and fourth on the team in OPS (.919).
“I love her chaos,” Pusey said. “When I started just doing what I do, I was loud on the field. She scored the first run against Charleston and she hit the plate with her hand screaming and I’m like, ‘this is amazing.’ I saw pieces of me in her and it made me emotional.”
Another freshman that is enjoying early-season success is utility Livia Wiltsie. Her ability to play multiple positions in the infield adds versatility and provides another impact bat in the middle of the Red Foxes’ lineup. Wiltsie ranks fifth amongst her teammates in OPS (.864) and third in total bases (29).
“She is always trying to get better,” Ahr said. “[Geiser and Wiltsie] do not look like freshmen at the plate, I’d say that they go up there with the confidence of an upperclassman.”
The eighth addition, graduate student pitcher Ava Metzger, was the lone acquisition out of the transfer portal. Metzger, a three-year pitcher at Manhattan, had familiarity with Ausanio and Marist from her high school recruiting process.
“Nobody in the transfer portal wants to come to Marist,” said Ausanio. “They all want to go to Oklahoma and get NIL deals…I think I have gotten three responses in all the years I have gone in the portal.”
Metzger has burst onto the scene as a Red Fox, earning two MAAC Pitcher of the Week awards while posting a 2.03 ERA and forming a strong top of the rotation alongside redshirt sophomore pitcher Stella Blanchard. In her last three starts, Metzger has surrendered just one earned run and struck out 26 batters in three complete games.
Blanchard, the 2023 Connecticut Gatorade Player of the Year, underwent Tommy John surgery to reconstruct her elbow, which significantly limited her time in the circle prior to this season. Over her first two seasons, she made just one appearance, but in nine appearances (six starts) this year, she has posted a 2.51 ERA, including allowing only one earned run over her first 12 innings against MAAC opponents.
“I don’t even count the one appearance that I had as playing Marist softball. I consider myself a freshman,” Blanchard said. “I don’t think I am at my full potential yet, but I hope I can get there soon.”
“I’m really proud of her because she has really stepped up and absolutely done a really good job so far, considering that she has not really been out there in two years,” added Ausanio. “She has an electric arm. She has great spins on the ball and throws a great changeup.”
Though Metzger and Blanchard have collected the majority of the attention in the circle, freshman pitcher Kaylie DeChicchis has also impressed. In the series finale against Niagara, the freshman covered the final 5.2 innings, only allowing two runs and walking zero. DeChicchis is not going to consistently strike people out, but her ability to command the strike zone stands out; in 27.2 innings pitched, DeChicchis has only walked four hitters.
“That’s the thing I love about Kaylie,” Ausanio said of her ability to attack hitters. “She is definitely going to have a key role in MAAC games and I think she brings a different look than what we have.”
The Red Foxes have junior pitcher/outfielder Anna Sidlowski and sophomore pitcher Emma Bayor that can get outs as well. Though Sidlowski has struggled in the early going, she has a track record of success; she won MAAC Rookie of the Year in 2024 and had a 2.52 ERA in 18 appearances last season.
“I think we have a very deep pitching staff this year,” Blanchard said. “It is going to be different than Maddie and Kiley, but I still think we are going to be very successful.”
Last season, Marist generated most of its offense via the home run. The team swatted 108 balls out of the park, 67 more than second-place Canisius. 58 of those home runs were lost to graduation, so the Red Foxes have had to adapt a different mentality to score.
“Last year, we sat around and waited for the big inning to happen,” said Ausanio. “This year, we are trying to make that big inning happen by putting pressure on defenses.”
In a season that has been full of adjustments, Ahr and Pusey have remained constants. After leading the nation in batting average (.508), Ahr currently leads the team in average (.392) and ranks second in OPS (.966).
After a slow start to the season, Pusey erupted in Marist’s sweep of Niagara last weekend, going 8-for-11 (.727) with two home runs, five runs scored four RBIs and earning her MAAC Player of the Week.
Earlier this season, Ahr and Pusey both made history: Ahr broke the program’s all-time hits record, while Pusey became the first player in Marist and MAAC history to score 200 career runs. On Ahr’s way to becoming the program’s “hit queen,” she surpassed two former teammates in McDonald and Caroline Barrata.
“I’m just trying to hit the ball as much as I can to either get on for my team or to get people in,” said Ahr. “I’m proud of myself at the moment, but then I’m looking for what to do next.”
“It feels good for a few minutes, and then it’s just about trying to get a third ring,” said Pusey. “I struggled this preseason mentally and physically and I actually got [the record] at a pretty low point. It was like God saying to me, ‘look at how I’m shining light through the clouds when all you are seeing is thunderstorms.’’’
Beyond personnel, a stark difference between last year’s team and this year’s team is the nonconference portion of the schedule. This season, Marist faced Power-4 programs including Boston College and South Carolina, who the Red Foxes defeated to earn their first victory over a ranked opponent in program history. At the end of March, the Red Foxes will travel to Chapel Hill to take on Arizona State and the University of North Carolina.
The Red Foxes also faced quality mid-major programs like Central Michigan, College of Charleston, Southeast Missouri State and South Florida. Against that challenging schedule, Marist went just 6-12, recording more losses before the calendar flipped to March than it had all of last season.
Now, the team is on a five-game winning streak to open MAAC play, capitalizing on continued strong efforts in the circle by Metzger and Blanchard as well as offensive contributions occurring up and down the lineup.
“My freshman year, [Haley’s] sophomore year, we won the MAAC tournament and we had a losing record that year,” said Pusey. “The record to me does not mean a thing because all that matters is that we are the last one standing in conference. [The losing] bruised us; but I also think it’s molded us.”
Edited by Max Rosen
Photo by John Jankowski
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X, TikTok and Bluesky, and sign up to receive daily alerts here.