MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College softball team split a non-conference doubleheader with Washington and Jefferson College Tuesday (March 24) afternoon at Marietta Field. W&J won the first game, 5-0, while the Pioneers took the nightcap, 5-4.
Washington and Jefferson (7-5 overall) scored a run in the top of the first inning and then added insurance runs in the sixth and seventh. Krista McCartney (4-2) got the win. McCartney allowed four base hits with five walks and three strikeouts in the shutout.
Kristina LaRocca (Strasburg/Strasburg Franklin) (1-5) went the distance in the circle for the Pioneers. LaRocca gave up five runs, three earned, on six hits. She walked one and struck out five.
Marietta left the bases loaded in the sixth and seventh innings. Both rallies started with two outs and ended before the Pioneers could get the RBI hit.
In game two, the Pioneers took the early lead with a run in the bottom of the second.
Rachel Montgomery (Massillon/Perry) walked and then came around to score on a triple off the bat of
Ariann Barile (Roaming Shores/Jefferson). Marietta added a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth for a 4-1 lead heading into the top of the seventh.
The Presidents tied the game at 4-4 with three runs in the seventh.
Natalie Bender (Akron/Archbishop Hoban) led off the home half of the seventh with a single and advanced into scoring position on an error.
Ashlee Ireland (Carroll/Bloom Carroll) singled to put runners on the corners with no outs.
Ireland stole second to take away the force out. Back to back ground outs, one to third base and one back to the pitcher, left W&J one out away from forcing extra innings.
Alison Kach (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich), who took over on the mound for the Pioneers in the top of the inning, grounded to first but reached safely when the ball was misplayed. Bender raced home with the winning run.
Alexis O'Hair (Maumee/Maumee) started in the circle for Marietta and went 5.2 innings. O'Hair allowed one unearned run on six hits.
Jocelyn White (Gibsonia, Pa./Hampton) surrendered three runs on two hits in 1.0 inning of work before Kach (2-3) took over. Kach gave up a hit before shutting the door on the Presidents for the win.
Emily Watson (3-3) took the loss. Watson threw 6.2 innings and allowed five runs on nine hits. She walked four adn struck out four.
Amy Castle (Columbus/Groveport Madison) and Barile each finished with two hits for the Pioneers. Castle blasted a two-run home run in the sixth, while Barile had a double and a triple.
Marietta hosts Baldwin Wallace University on Saturday (March 28) at 1:00 p.m. Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
