MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College softball team began their first ever NCAA tournament as host with a matchup against a tough Pfeiffer University team and was defeated, 13-0, in five innings, in the first round of the tournament.
After a scoreless first inning, the No. 2 seeded Falcons jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. After Emma Bullin walked and Alexis Walter singled to open the inning, Kenzi Lyall doubled them both home to put Pfeiffer up two runs. Emma Chopko had an RBI single, Caiti Mickles drew a bases-loaded walk, and pinch-hitter Taylor Parrish singled through the left side to extend the lead to 5-0. Pfeiffer scored four more times before Marietta could finally retire the side, but the damage was done.
The Falcons scored four more runs in the third, fueled by a two-run single from Charley Cooper, to lead 13-0 after three innings.
"I was pound of the kids for playing our kind of ball," said Pfeiffer Head Coach Monte Sherrill. "We were fundamentally sound but aggressive. The power game came into play, but I was very proud of our pitching and defense."
Pfeiffer's Kali Morton (20-3) worked the first three innings and only gave up an infield single to
Jillian Middleton (Marietta, Ohio/Marietta) and an impressive opposite field triple off of the bat of
Camryn Campbell (Mansfield, Ohio/Lexington). Sadie Lee worked a scoreless fourth and Lyall came in to shut the door the the fifth.
Rachel Kazmirski (Colliers, W.Va./Brooke) (1-7) got the start for the Pioneers. She ran into to some trouble in the first inning as she walked the bases loaded, but Marietta was able to get out of that inning. Kazmirski worked 1.1 innings, giving up four runs on two hits. She walked five and struck out one.
Sarah Keating (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) worked the final 1.1 innings and kept Pfeiffer off the board as she retired all four batters she faced.
"Pfeiffer is a very good team, we knew that coming in," said Marietta Head Coach
Jenn Castle. "Our batters went up there very aggressively and they put the ball in play. Pfeiffer made some good plays against us. I'm very confident that we can rebound tomorrow. We're a family. We have each other's backs. And we will come back a better team."
Marietta will next play in the loser's portion of the bracket and will battle Penn State Berks Friday (May 19) at 1:30 p.m. The No. 4 seeded Nittany Lions battled top seed Rowan University to scoreless draw all the way into the eighth inning before allowing the running run to score.
Pfeiffer will start the day with a battle against Rowan with first pitch scheduled at 11 a.m. "We played them earlier this year," said Coach Sherill. "They are a quality ball club, but we are prepared for anyone. If we take care of our in-house game, we are going to be tough to beat. We are built for this."
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.
