ALLIANCE, Ohio — After losing their opening round matchup earlier in the day, the Marietta College softball team battled Muskingum in the loser's bracket elimination game. The Pioneers were defeated, 8-0, in five innings, eliminating them from the tournament.
The Fighting Muskies jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Haley Hawk singled home two runs. Carlee Lamacz homered to lead off the second inning and Cara Taylor tripled home two more runs to give Muskingum a 5-0 lead after two innings. The Muskies plated three more runs in the third to put some pressure on the Pioneers to score or face the eight-run rule.
Marietta's
Jillian Strecansky (Columbiana, Ohio/South Range) led off the fifth inning with an infield single and was advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. She would be left stranded there as
Taylor Watts (Galloway, Ohio/West Jefferson) and
Rachel Kazmirski (Colliers, W.Va./Brooke) would fly out and Muskingum would claim the run-ruled victory.
Kazmirski (1-6) started for the Pioneers and was tagged with the loss. She gave up two runs in 0.1 innings of work.
Jillian Middleton (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) came in and worked 1.1 innings of relief. She gave up three runs on five hits.
Breanna Zirkle (Pomeroy, Ohio/Meigs) came on in relief and pitched a total of 1.1 innings, giving up three runs on three hits.
Amelia Timko (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) closed the game with one scoreless inning of work.
Marietta moves to 24-15 on the season and will now have to wait and see if they will receive an at-large bid into the NCAA national tournament. The selection show will take place on Monday (May 15) at 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.
