WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Freshman
Maddi Liston (Pickerington, Ohio/Pickerington Central) shutout the top offense in the Ohio Athletic Conference salvaging a doubleheader split at Otterbein University Friday (April 6) afternoon in softball. The Cardinals beat Marietta, 12-3, in five innings in the first game, while the Pioneers blanked Otterbein, 4-0, in the second game.
Marietta is now 10-12 overall and 2-4 in OAC games. Otterbein moves to 16-6 on the season and 5-1 in the OAC. The Cardinals are tied with Heidelberg atop the OAC standings.
Liston (4-5) tossed a complete game shutout for the Pioneers scattering eight Cardinal hits over 7.0 innings. She walked one and struck out one. Liston worked out of bases loaded situation three times including the fifth inning when Otterbein loaded the bases with no outs.
Marietta scored twice in the top of the third and added two more runs in the sixth.
Reagan Tom (Chandlersville, Ohio/Philo) and
Ali Prologo (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) led off the third inning with singles.
Alyssa Cook (Akron, Ohio/Ellet) smacked a single down the left field line scoring Tom and moving Prologo around to third base. Following a ground out,
Jordan Pallay (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Bradley) singled to center driving in Prologo for a 2-0 MC lead.
Tom and Prologo triggered Marietta's rally in the sixth. Tom reached on a two-out single and Prologo followed with a home run over the left-center wall. The dinger was Prologo's first of the season and just the third of her career.
Rachael Owens (5-3) started and took the loss for Otterbein. She pitched 5.2 innings and gave up four runs on 10 hits with two walks and one strikeout. Kasey Morris allowed one hit in 1.1 innings of relief. She walked three and struck out one.
Cook finished 3-for-4 with one RBI. Tom, Prologo and Pallay each had two hits in the game. Tom scored twice, Prologo scored two runs and drove in two others with the home run, while Pallay had a double and one RBI.
In the first game of the doubleheader, Otterbein jumped on the Pioneers for eight runs in the first inning and then added four more in the second. The Cardinals sent 11 hitters to the plate in the first inning and scored all eight runs with two outs. Alyson Shaw hit a three-run home run to lead the rally.
Otterbein's Rachael Owens hit a three-run homer in the second inning. The Cardinals collected 14 hits in the game that was stopped after five innings.
Pallay got the Pioneers on the board with a solo home run in the top of the second inning. Cook and
Kayla Alderson (Houston, Pa./Chartiers-Houston) each drove in a run on groundouts in the third inning.
Jackie Mulvain (Warren, Ohio/Champion) (4-4) started and took the loss for Marietta. She was touched up for 12 runs on 12 hits in 1.1 innings of work.
Hannah Richardson (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville Central) threw the final 2.2 innings and allowed two hits and one walk.
Gabby Johnson (8-1) got the win. She threw 2.0 innings and allowed one run on one hit with one walk and two strikeouts. Anna Edwards gave up two runs on three hits in 2.0 innings of work, while Morris pitched 1.0 inning and allowed one hit and struck out two.
Marietta plays at Capital University on Saturday (April 7). First pitch is set for 1 p.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.
