KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Less than 24 hours after being shutout the Marietta College softball bats came roaring alive Monday (March 7) morning as the Pioneers erupted for 26 runs in a pair of five inning mercy rule victories.
Marietta (4-4 overall) crushed Illinois College 15-0 in game one and then downed Beloit College in the nitecap, 11-2.
The Pioneers sent 12 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning against Illinois College (2-1 overall) plating nine runs in the frame. Aided by three walks and two hit batsmen, Marietta banged out four hits in the inning. The big blow was a three-run triple from
Cierra Bloom (Dennison, Ohio/Claymont).
Bloom drove in another run in MC's four0run third inning with a single.
Brianna Finck (New Lexington, Ohio/Crooksville),
Rachel Montgomery (Massillon, Ohio/Perry) and
Kaitlin Klinchock (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) each added RBI singles in the rally.
While the bats were booming,
Alison Kach (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) (3-2) was dominating the Illinois College hitters. Kach tossed three innings and allowed one hit with three strikeouts.
Kristina LaRocca (Strasburg, Ohio/Strasburg Franklin) added two innings of one-hit, shutout relief.
Marietta's final two runs came in the fourth.
Ali Prologo (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) drilled a run-scoring triple and Bloom picked up her fifth RBI of the game with a sac fly. Bloom finished 3-for-3 with three runs scored.
The Pioneer bats picked up where they off in the game two scoring four times in the bottom of the first inning. Beloit (0-4) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the inning, but it was short-lived.
Montgomery got the ball rolling with a two-run double and Klinchock followed with a double down the leftfield line scoring Montgomery.
Ariann Barile (Roaming Shores, Ohio/Jefferson) plated Klinchock with a single to center.
Three more runs in the second put the game out of reach. The Pioneers added another run in the third and three more in the fourth to secure the mercy rule victory.
Klinchock notched two more RBis with a double in the fourth innings. But five Beloit errors aided the Pioneer attack.
Jocelyn White (Gibsonia, Pa./Hampton) (1-1) and LaRocca combined on the victory. White worked 2.2 innings and allowed two runs on five hits. LaRocca retired all seven batters she faced striking out three.
Marietta is back in action Tuesday (March 8) morning with a 9:00 a.m. game against Bluffton University followed by a match up with No. 16 ranked Kean University at 11:15 a.m.
Fans can follow all the Pioneer teams all year long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
