MARIETTA, Ohio — Sophomore Michelle Sayre (Ripley, W.Va./Ripley) hit four home runs and broke Marietta College's single-season record during an Ohio Athletic Conference softball split with visiting University of Mount Union Wednesday (April 6) at Marietta Field. The Pioneers let a late lead slip away in the opener en route to a 9-5, 10-inning loss before bouncing back to win game two 11-3 in five innings. [Game 1 Box Score] [Game 2 Box Score]

Sayre, who earlier this year became the school's all-time home run leader, tied a single-game school record with two home runs in each game, which gave her a single-season record 10 for the year and 18 for her young career. Marietta's seven home run day also helped it set a new single-season record, having already slugged 24 home runs in 2011.

Marietta (14-7, 4-2 OAC) out hit Mount Union (12-8, 4-2 OAC) 16-11 in game one but could not overcome 12 stranded runners, 11 strikeouts and two errors. As a result, the Purple Raiders scored seven unanswered runs to win 9-5.

Sayre launched her seventh home run of the spring, a two-run shot, in the bottom of the first to give the Pioneers an early 2-0 advantage.

Mount Union knotted the game at 2-2 in the third. The first Purple Raider run scored when a player was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. The tying run crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly.

The Pioneers bats unleashed a trio of solo home runs in the bottom of the fourth to regain the lead 5-2. Sayre led off with her second of the game and school-record tying eighth of the spring. Sophomore Trayla Liles (Tollesboro, Ky./Lewis County) followed her fifth of the season, while senior Cassady Busellato (Hilliard/Hilliard Davidson) joined the parade with her first of the year.

Mara Palombaro hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth to cut Mount Union's deficit down to two runs, 5-3. The Purple Raiders rallied four two unearned runs with two outs to tie the score at 5-5 in the top of the seventh.

Mount Union broke the stalemate with a four-run 10th inning. Brittany Papp drove in the go-ahead run with a single to left, while Marissa Earl added a three-run double to help the Purple Raiders pull out the 9-5 victory.

Sayre finished 4-for-5, McDaniel added three hits in four at-bats, while sophomore Katie Swejk (Tallmadge/Tallmadge), Liles, senior Maureen Kertes (Cape Elizabeth, Maine/Cape Elizabeth) and senior Hope Cowoski (Perry/Perry) all added a pair of hits in the loss.

Earl and Palombaro both had two hits and three RBI.  

Sophomore Chelsea Chaffin (Wheelersburg/Wheelersburg) took the loss to fall to 12-5 after allowing nine runs (four earned) on 11 hits. The right-hander walked three and struck out three.

Bre Willis earned the victory, moving her record to 7-3. Willis gave up five runs on 16 hits, walked three and struck out 11.

Marietta took advantage of three Mount Union errors to plate a run in the first inning of game two.

The Pioneers then sent 10 batters to the plate and boosted their advantage to 7-0 in the second. Swejk drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. McDaniel followed with a two-run single. Sayre then hit a three-run home run, which gave her a single-season school record nine for the spring.

McDaniel added a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 8-0 in the third.

Mount Union scored two runs, one on a single and another on a wild pitch, to get on the board in the fourth. Senior Ashley Eberhardt (Massillon/Tuslaw) drilled a solo home run, Marietta's sixth of the day, to make the score 9-2 in the bottom of the frame.

Palombaro connected on her second home run in as many games in the top of the fifth, trimming the Pioneer lead back to six runs, 9-3. In the bottom of the fifth, however, Sayre capped her record-breaking day with a two-run shot to center field to secure the 11-3, mercy-rule win.

Marietta out hit Mount Union 14-6 in game two. Kertes finished with a game-high three hits, while freshman Michelle Kelley (Stow/Stow-Munroe Falls), McDaniel, Sayre, and Cowoski all added two hits.

Junior Hazel Brogdon (Chugiak, Alaska/Chugiak) earned her second win of the season after scattering two runs on six hits in five innings. Rachel McAninch suffered the loss by giving up nine runs (eight earned) on eight hits in two and two-thirds of an inning.

Marietta continues OAC play at 1 p.m. Saturday (April 9) when the Pioneers visit Ohio Northern University.