MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College softball team was swept at home by Kenyon College Sunday (April 10) afternoon. Kenyon won game one, 9-7, and completed the sweep with a 5-0 win in game two.
Marietta falls to 9-13 overall and Kenyon improves to 20-8 on the season.
Marietta scored first in game one when
Kylie Daugherty (Newport, Ohio/Frontier) hit a double to deep center field and came around to score on
Emma Burke's (Lancaster, Ohio/Lancaster) single.
Starting pitcher
Jillian Middleton (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) got into trouble in the third inning as she walked the bases loaded and hit a batter to allow Kenyon to tie the game. She was replaced by
Ashton Helmke (Defiance, Ohio/Tinora) after walking yet another batter. Kenyon put a total of six runs on the board in the inning to take a 6-1 lead.
The Pioneers cut into the lead in the bottom half of the third when Daugherty doubled again. She would advance to third on a
Taylor Airy (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) single and would eventually score on a throwing error.
Jess Brown (Brookville, Ohio/Brookville) doubled home Airy to cut the lead in half.
Marietta had a three-run fifth inning. Burke doubled and Brown singled her home.
Paige Adams (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South) would come up and hit an opposite field bomb to make it a one-run deficit.
Kenyon came up in the top half of the next inning and generated two runs on a walk and back-to-back doubles. Marietta would tack on one more run in the seventh, but it would not be enough and the Pioneers would fall, 9-7.
Middleton (8-5) took the loss, throwing one inning and allowing five runs on no hits. She struck out one and walked five. Helmke pitch six innings of relief, giving up four runs (three earned) while striking out three and walking one.
In the second game, both teams remained scoreless after five innings. Kenyon scored all five of their runs in the sixth inning. Clare McMahon had a one-out double and scored on a Maddie Friday single. Grace Finn singled up the middle to drive in two runs. Bella Albrecht drove in a run with a single. The Pioneers were retired in order in the final two innings, preserving the sweep for Kenyon.
Amelia Timko (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) got the start in game two and pitched well for the first five innings before running into trouble. She pitched 5.1 innings and gave up only two runs, on six hits.
Breanna Zirkle (Pomeroy, Ohio/Meigs) came on in relief but could not retire any of the five batters she faced.
Sarah Keating (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) pitched the final 1.2 innings and was able to stop Kenyon from putting any more runs on the board.
Marietta plays next at Wilmington College on Monday (April 11) in make-up games. First pitch for the OAC doubleheader is set for 3 p.m.
Fans can follow all of 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.
