MARIETTA, Ohio — Marietta College softball pushed its winning streak to eight games with a doubleheader sweep of Ohio Northern University Sunday (April 2) afternoon at Marietta Field. The Pioneers won the first game, 4-0, and then took the second game by the score of 10-4.
The Pioneers improve to 11-5 overall and 2-0 in the Ohio Athletic Conference. Ohio Northern falls to 9-9 overall and 0-2 in the OAC.
"It was really good to open up with two wins in OAC play," Marietta head coach
Jenn Castle said. "We had a specific game plan going in and the players were invested and stayed focused from start to finish."
Marietta broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning of the first game.
Camryn Campbell (Mansfield, Ohio/Lexington) led off with a single and stole second. Following a strikeout,
Jillian Middleton (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) drove in Campbell with a single to left and moved into scoring position on the throw to the plate.
Taylor Airy (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) made it 2-0 with a single up the middle.
Rachel Kazmirski (Colliers, W.Va./Brooke) delivered an RBI single in the fifth and
Haylee Mott (Kinsman, Ohio/Badger) smacked an RBI doble in the sixth for a 4-0 Pioneer lead.
Middleton (5-3) picked up the win in relief. She pitched 4.0 innings and allowed no runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Kazmirski started and worked 1.2 innings giving up no runs on one hit.
Amelia Timko (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) threw 1.1 innings of one-hit, scoreless relief.
Ashley Lenser (5-4) went the distance in the circle for the Polar Bears. She was charged with four runs on nine hits with one walk and four strikeouts.
Campbell and
Shelby Metzger (Beavercreek Township, Ohio/Beavercreek) each had two hits for the Pioneers.
In the second game, Marietta scored 10 unanswered runs to come from behind and win 10-4. Middleton (6-3) picked up her second win of the afternoon pitching 3.0 shutout innings of relief. She gave up one hit, walked two and struck out four.
The Polar Bears scored four runs in the top of the second inning. Ohio Northern got RBI doubles from Allie Wilson and Annika Murray and a runs-scoring single from Hailey Fraser.
Marietta answered with three runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and four more in the sixth to get the doubleheader sweep.
Kazmirski doubled and Middelton singled to start the fourth inning.
Jess Brown (Brookville, Ohio/Brookville) brought them both home with a double into the left field corner. Mott added an RBI single making it 4-3.
Middelton lined an RBI single to center in the fifth scoring Kazmirski, who reached on a double. Brown followed with a two-run blast over the fence in right center putting the Pioneers in front 6-4.
Kazmirski and Brown each had an RBI double in the sixth. Middelton and
Taylor Airy (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) drove in runs with sac flies making it 10-4 in favor of the Pioneers.
Kazmirski started in the circle and threw a perfect first inning. Timko took over in the second and allowed four runs on four hits in one-third of an inning.
Breanna Zirkle (Pomeroy, Ohio/Meigs) threw 2.2 innings giving up no runs on one hit.
Allie Bican (4-5) started and got the loss. She was charged with nine runs on 11 hits with three walks and eight strikeouts in 5.1 innings. Demi Sauter worked the other two-thirds of an inning and gave up one unearned run.
Kazmirski finished 4-for-4 with three runs scored and three doubles. The three doubles tied the Marietta College single game record. Brown had three hits, including two doubles and a home run, and five RBI. Middleton and Mott each had two hits.
Marietta plays at Mount Union on Tuesday (April 4) at 3:00 p.m.
Fans can follow the Pioneers all season long at
pioneers.marietta.edu. You can also follow the Pioneers on Facebook at
facebook.com/MariettaCollege and @MariettaPioneer on Twitter and Instagram.
