MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta College moved into a tie for second place in the Ohio Athletic Conference softball standings with a doubleheader sweep of Wilmington College Sunday (April 24) afternoon. The Pioneers won the first game 8-1 and then took game two by a 2-0 margin.
Marietta is currently 10-6 in the OAC, 21-17 overall, and tied with Ohio Northern for second place. Otterbein has clinched the regular season title with a 15-1 conference record. Wilmington falls to 10-22 overall and 2-14 in the OAC.
Wilmington drew first blood in game one with an unearned run in the top of the second inning. The Quakers benefitted from two Pioneer errors in the frame as the managed to plate a run without a base hit.
Marietta answered right back with a run in the bottom of the second.
Kaitlin Klinchock (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) led off with a double into the leftfield corner. The next two Pioneers were retired but a wild pitch moved Klinchock to third.
Madison Gatley (West Jefferson, Ohio/West Jefferson) followed with an infield single off the pitcher's glove allowing Klinchock to score the tying run.
MC took the lead in the next inning.
Cierra Bloom (Dennison, Ohio/Claymont) smacked a two-out triple to the wall in right center and scored on a single from
Rachel Montgomery (Massillon, Ohio/Perry). Klinchock crushed a two-run blast to left giving the Pioneers a 4-1 lead.
Montgomery and Klinchock extended the Marietta lead to 6-1 with back-to-back homers in the fifth. Klinchock now leads the OAC with nine round trippers on the season.
The Pioneers added two more runs in the sixth. A dropped fly ball in centerfield allowed
Ashlee Ireland (Carroll, Ohio/Bloom Carroll) and
Amy Castle (Columbus, Ohio/Groveport Madison) to score unearned runs and push the margin to 8-1.
Kristina LaRocca (Strasburg, Ohio/Strasburg Franklin) (8-4) scattered four hits, all singles, in seven innings of work for the win. She allowed one unearned run, walked one and had one strikeout.
Becca Carpenter (4-12) started and took the loss for the Quakers. She gave up six runs on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. Megan Joyner allowed two runs on two base hits in 1 1/3 inning of relief.
Klinchock finished 3-for-3 with a double and two home runs. She scored three times and drove in three runs. Montgomery had two hits, including a home run, scored twice and had a pair of RBI, while Gatley had two singles and an RBI.
Sophomore
Jocelyn White (Gibsonia, Pa./Hampton) (7-7) outdueled Wilmington's Beth Persicano (2-6) in the nitecap as both pitchers went the distance. White tossed a three-hit shutout striking our six Quakers. Perisicano allowed two runs on four hits. She walked two and struck out three.
Brianna Finck (New Lexington, Ohio/Crooksville) led off the bottom of the first with a walk and quickly stole second base. Bloom grounded out to the shortstop moving Finck to third. Montgomery followed with a single through the left side of the infield plating Finck with what would turn out to be the winning run.
Bloom made it 2-0 with a solo shot over the wall in center field in the fifth inning. It was Bloom's first homer of the season.
Finck, Bloom, Montgomery and White each had one hit for the Pioneers.
Marietta wraps up the regular season on Saturday (April 30) at John Carroll University. The doubleheader is slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch. Fans can follow the Pioneers 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.
