AUBURNDALE, Florida — The Marietta College softball team swept a pair of games Friday (March 10) at The Spring Games. The Pioneers defeated Roanoke College, 2-1 in extra innings, and then defeated Johnson and Wales University, 12-4. Marietta moves to 5-5 on the season.
"I am very proud of this team and how we are ending our spring trip," Marietta head coach
Jenn Castle said. "This was one of the more difficult schedules we have played in Florida, but we know we need challenged so we can be ready for our conference schedule."
Breanna Zirkle (Pomeroy, Ohio/Meigs) got the start for the Pioneers in game one and kept Roanoke off the scoreboard as she pitched a scoreless first inning, striking out two batters.
Jillian Middleton (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) came in for relief and retired the Maroons in order for the next two innings. Roanoke's Madison Courts reached on an error in the fourth inning but was stranded to keep the contest scoreless.
After both teams failed to score after seven innings, Roanoke was finally able to generate some offense in the eighth. Pinch runner Erin Gorcshboth was placed on second base to begin the inning and was advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. Mari Bostic then got a hit off of Marietta pitcher
Sarah Keating (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth), driving home the first run of the ballgame.
Marietta returned the favor in the bottom off the eighth after
Taylor Watts (Galloway, Ohio/West Jefferson) advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and came home on a
Camryn Campbell (Mansfield, Ohio/Lexington) sacrifice fly, tying the game at one.
In the top half of the ninth, Keating retired the first two batters with a strikeout and a pop up. Middleton was brought back in the game and got Lilly Burns to ground out to retire the side. Marietta began their portion of the ninth with
Rachel Kazmirski (Colliers, W.Va./Brooke) placed on second base. She advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and came around to score the winning run on a throwing error.
Middleton (2-3) worked a total of 4.1 innings and earned the victory. She allowed no runs and only gave up one hit, striking out one. Zirkle worked 3.0 innings allowing no runs and striking out three. Keating allowed one run on just one hit, striking out one hitter. The Pioneers pitchers issued no walks in the contest.
Jada Karnes pitched 8.0 innings and allowed one run on four hits. She walked two and struck out five. Lindsay Gedro (1-1) faced two batters and gave up the winning run to get the loss.
Taylor Airy (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) was the lone Marietta hitter with two hits.
Jess Brown (Brookville, Ohio/Brookville) and Kazmirski collected to other two Pioneer hits in the game.
In the second and final game of the day, the Pioneers battled Johnson and Wales University. The Pioneers got off to quick 2-0 lead in the first inning as Brown doubled to right field, scoring Kazmirski and Campbell. Marietta added four more runs in the next inning. Airy led off the second inning with a homer. Watts reached base on an infield single, advanced to second on a wild pitch, and eventually scored on Kazmirski's ground out. Brown drove in two more runs with a single through the left side, scoring Campbell and
Shelby Metzger (Beavercreek Township, Ohio/Beavercreek) and giving the Pioneers a 6-0 lead.
Zirkle got the start for Marietta and was cruising along until JWU's Jill Pulek reached with a single in the bottom of the third. Caroline Amorelli followed with a home run to left field, cutting the Pioneer lead to four. Hailey Erickson's RBI groundout in the bottom of the fifth pulled the Wildcats a bit closer, but Middleton's three-run blast in the top of the sixth broke the game open, 9-3.
Marietta got some insurance runs in the top half of the seventh off of Campbell's RBI single and Kazmirski's home run to center field, her third home run of the season. The Pioneers would finish off their spring break trip with a 12-4 victory.
Zirkle (2-0) worked a total of 3.2 innings and earned the victory. She allowed two runs on four hits, striking out one and walking one. Middleton worked 1.1 innings allowing one run on two hits. striking out three. Timko worked 1.2 innings of relief allowed just one hit, striking out two.
Jordan Cholley (North Canton, Ohio/Glenoak) pitched the final third of an inning, giving up one run on three hits.
Livia Feole (0-2) started for JWU, working 1.2 innings and allowed six runs on eight hits in the loss. Sage Borkowski closed out the rest of the outing and gave up six runs, three which were unearned, on eight hits.
Brown and Kazmirski had three hits apiece. Brown led with four runs batted in and Kazmirski drove in three runs. Middleton, Airy, and Campbell all had two hits in the contest. was the lone Marietta hitter with two hits.
Jess Brown (Brookville, Ohio/Brookville) and Kazmirski collected to other two Pioneer hits in the game. The three home runs and the 12 runs were the most of any game this season.
The Pioneer will return home and next play on Sunday (March 26). The Pioneers will play Wittenberg University to open the home portion of their schedule. First pitch is scheduled 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.
