March 19, 2005

Box Score

Raleigh, N.C. - The Marist softball team (2-7) won one of three games today at the Wolfpack Challenge, hosted by N.C. State. Four Red Foxes hit two-run home runs to pace Marist to a 14-6 rout of Central Connecticut. The 14 runs were the most the Red Foxes have scored since a 15-0 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore on March 28, 2002.

In the opener against the host Wolfpack, senior CF Allison Bartley scored on a fielder's choice in the fifth inning to tie the game 1-1 and send it to extra innings. In the bottom of the ninth with N.C. State leading 2-1 (Marist was the designated home team), freshman 1B Annie Castellano singled home RF Lyndsay Ward to knot the game at 2. The game would remain tied until the 10th, when N.C. State 3B Jennifer Chamberlin's RBI single put the Wolfpack ahead to stay. Marist, the designated home team for the game, could not score in the bottom of the inning and fell 3-2.

The Red Foxes would strike back with an incredible display of power against Central Connecticut. SS Katie Eskin, Polanco, DH Bridget Hurlman and Bartley all swatted two-run homers as Marist cruised to the 14-6 win over the Blue Devils. The four homers equaled the team's total from the 2004 season. Junior 2B Laurissa Riley collected three hits incuding a double. Polanco was also 3-4 while Bartley and Hurlman each singled as well. Freshman Megan Rigos earned the win. Marist was seeded fifth of 13 teams for bracket play after compiling a 2-1 record in pool play.

Marist would drop another heartbreaker in the nightcap, falling 4-2 to 10th-seeded UNC-Wilmington in the eighth inning on a walk-off two-run home run.

The Red Foxes conclude play at the Wolfpack Challenge tomorrow. The team will take on Central Connecticut against at 12 p.m. with the winner advancing to play either Purdue, Ohio or Illinois-Chicago immediately following.