MARIETTA, Ohio — The Marietta College softball team dropped a pair of non-conference games to Penn State Behrend Sunday (March 24) afternoon. The Lions won game one, 7-2, and game two with a score of 6-0.
Marietta moves to 6-9 on the season, while Penn State is now 9-7 overall.
Marietta broke through first in game one as
Liz White (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) led off with a double to right center field and came home on an RBI single by
Rachel Kazmirski (Colliers, W.Va./Brooke).
Breanna Zirkle (Pomeroy, Ohio/Meigs) (3-2) pitched two scoreless innings but ran into some trouble in the third. Britany Shaw and Maria Jones led off the third with hits and then were sacrificed into scoring position off of a bunt from Jocelyn McNany. Lexi Edgett and Meghan Petitte followed with consecutive run-scoring singles and the Lions led 2-0 going into the bottom of the third.
After a scoreless third inning from Marietta, Penn State Behrend broke it open in the fourth inning. After Zirkle retired the first two hitters, Shaw reached based on an error. The Lion saw five of their next six batters reach base with a hit, resulting in four unearned runs and putting the lead at 6-2.
Marietta tried to rally in the fifth as White led off with a single and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Kazmirski lined a single to center field and White could only advance to third.
Jess Brown (Brookville, Ohio/Brookville) scored White on a deep sacrifice fly but Kazmirski was called out for leaving base early, ending the threat at one run scored. The Lions were able to plate an insurance run in the seventh and would go on to claim game one, 7-2.
Zirkle started and took the loss. She gave up six runs, two earned, on seven hits in 3.2 innings.
Candace Walters (Powell, Ohio/Olentangy) came on in relief and was charged with one run on four hits in 1.2 innings and Kazmirski worked the final 1.2 inning giving up no runs and no hits.
Abby Tingley (4-3) went the distance in the circle for Penn State and gave up two runs on 10 hits with three strikeouts in 7.0 innings.
In game two, the Lions grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the second as Emi Curcio and Sierra Williams had consecutive one-out singles and advanced into scoring position after a fielder's choice. Curico eventually scored off an error and Maria Jones' 2-RBI triple gave Penn State the early lead.
Marietta led off the fourth with singles from Brown and Jess Middleton but could score as
Taylor Airy (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Coffman) struck out and
Jordan Cholley (North Canton, Ohio/Glenoak) lined into an inning-ending double play. After the Lions played a trio of insurance runs in the top of the seventh, the Pioneers were retired in order to finish the afternoon.
Amelia Timko (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) (0-2) started and took the loss. She threw five innings and allowed three unearned runs on seven hits. Middleton tossed the final two innings allowing three runs on four hits.
Kayla Lindberg (4-2) started and got the shutout win. She gave up six hits in seven innings, striking out six batters.
Marietta will next play at Ohio Northern on Friday (March 29) with the first pitch of game one scheduled for 1:00 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 X and Instagram.
