KISSIMMEE, Florida — After rain forced the cancellation of both games Thursday (March 10), the Marietta College softball team was back on the diamond Friday (March 11) for a doubleheader at the Rebel Spring Games. The Pioneers took game one 9-3 over regional foe Wittenberg University but fell in the nightcap 8-0 in five innings to #14 United States Coast Guard Academy. [Game 1 Box Score] [Game 2 Box Score]

Sophomore Chelsea Chaffin (Wheelersburg/Wheelersburg) earned the complete game win in game one for the Pioneers (4-4). Chaffin allowed three runs on five hits, struck out six and walked one.

Marietta scored three unearned runs in the bottom of the first inning against the Tigers (2-7). Sophomore Katie Swejk (Tallmadge/Tallmadge) reached on a fielding error by the Wittenberg first baseman to start the frame. She then stole second and advanced to third by way of a Marissa McDaniel sacrifice bunt. Sophomore Michelle Sayre (Ripley, W.Va./Ripley) plated Swejk by ripping a single right up the middle to give her squad a 1-0 advantage. After Sayre stole second, she scored on a RBI single by senior Cassady Busellato (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson). Busellato later came across to make the score 3-0 when sophomore Trayla Liles (Tollesboro, Ky./Lewis County) belted a double to right center.

Wittenberg responded by scoring three runs in the top of the second to knot the score at 3-3. Senior Maureen Kertes (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) homered to left to begin the bottom of the second and put Marietta back up 4-3. Sayre recorded her second RBI of the game in the second with a bloop single to left, which scored Swejk from third after Swejk singled earlier in the inning.

A squeeze bunt by senior Ashley Eberhardt (Massillon/Tuslaw) in the fifth scored McDaniel from third to make the score 6-3 in favor of Marietta. Liles then ripped her second double of the game, which scored Busellato from first and made the score 7-3 after five. Eberhardt capped the Marietta scoring with a single to center field that brought in two more Pioneer runs in the sixth and they went on to win 9-3.

Eberhardt went 1-for-4 with three RBI in game one. Sayre and Liles both finished 2-for-3 with two RBI, while Kertes and Busellato recorded one hit with one RBI each.

Coast Guard pitcher Hayley Feindel (7-0) shut down the recently hot Pioneer bats with a two-hit shutout in game two.

Chaffin (4-2) took the loss in the nightcap after giving up six runs on nine hits in three and one-third innings. Junior Hazel Brogdon (Chugiak, Alaska/Chugiak) came on in relief to pitch two thirds of an inning, allowing two runs on one hit with three walks.

Chaffin and senior Hope Cowoski (Perry/Perry) were the only Pioneer hitters to record a hit in the loss.

Marietta will conclude its spring break trip at 1 p.m. Saturday (March 12) with a rematch with Wittenberg.