MARIETTA, Ohio – The Marietta College Pioneer are back in the Ohio Athletic Conference Softball Tournament for the first time since 2007. Veteran head coach Jeanne Arbuckle leads a team brimming with experience and hungry for a conference championship.
The Pioneers are seeded fourth with an overall record of 21-15 and a league mark of 11-7. Marietta will play the No. 1 seed and tournament host, Capital University, in the first round. The Crusaders enter the postseason 32-8 overall and 16-2 in the OAC.
Marietta and Capital split their OAC doubleheader this spring. Playing in Bexley, the Crusaders won the first game 6-5, while the Pioneers took the nightcap by the score of 6-4.
The 2013 tournament begins on Friday (May 3) at 10:00 a.m. when the University of Mount Union (22-11 overall, 12-6 OAC), seeded third, plays No. 2 seed John Carroll University (25-9 overall, 14-4 OAC).
Marietta and Capital square off at 12:00 p.m. in game two. The winners of games one and two meet at 2:00 p.m., while the losers play an elimination game at 4:00 p.m.
The Pioneers are led by senior right fielder
Trayla Liles (Tollesboro, Ky./Lewis County), who has a .418 batting average with 10 home runs and 32 RBIs. Senior catcher
Ris McDaniel (Pickerington/North) bats .326 and has drawn a league-best 29 walks, while senior second baseman
Katie Swejk (Tallmadge/Tallmadge) leads the team and ranks among the OAC leaders with 18 stolen bases.
In the circle, Marietta features freshman
Lauren Larrick (Leesburg/Fairfield Local) and sophomore
Alexis O'Hair (Maumee/Maumee). Larrick is 10-6 on the season with a 3.16 earned run average, while O'Hair posted an 8-5 mark and sports a 3.26 ERA.
Capital is led by senior shortstop Devan Boggs, who leads the team with a .482 batting average and leads the OAC in home runs (11) and RBIs (45). Sophomore centerfielder Kelsey Swain is batting .430 with 14 stolen bases, and sophomore catcher Maura Rose has knocked in 36 runs.
A pair of sophomores handles the pitching for the Crusaders. Brooke Billings is 15-4 with a 2.27 ERA, while Alyssa Patznick is 17-4 with a 2.90 ERA and 111 strikeouts in 137.2 innings of work.
Marietta went 0-2 during the regular season against both Mount Union and John Carroll. The Purple Raiders swept Marietta 9-0 and 9-3, while the Blue Streaks posted 3-0 and 6-5 wins against the Pioneers.
Mount Union is lead offensively by senior outfielder Kristen Gromes, who is batting a team-high .410 with 11 stolen bases. Senior infielder Alex Mayo and freshman infielder Andi VanSickle are hitting .303 and .302, respectively. Senior pitcher Rachel McAninch leads the team and ranks second in the OAC in both ERA (1.84) and strikeouts (151).
John Carroll is led by senior catcher Mackenzie Griffin, who leads the OAC in batting average (.586), on base percentage (.636) and doubles (19). Junior infielder Samantha Becker is batting .397 and leads the team with 41 runs scored. Sophomore pitcher Rachel Byrnes leads the Blue Streaks in the circle with a 1.75 ERA and a league-leading 18-2 record.
Capital is hosting the OAC Softball Tournament for the first time in program history. The Crusaders, making their 14th tournament appearance, won the tournament championship in 1991 and 1997.
This will be Marietta's eighth trip to the league tournament. The Pioneers won the tournament title in 1996 and were runners-up in 1985, 2006 and 2007. Mount Union has one tournament championship to its credit winning in 2008. This is the Purple Raiders 22nd trip to the tournament. John Carroll is making its seventh appearance and won the title in 2010 and 2012.
Fans can catch the action live at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter.
