April 26, 2011

Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. -- The Marist softball team split a doubleheader at Army on Tuesday, as the Red Foxes suffered a 5-3 loss in game one before rebounding for an 11-1 triumph in the second game. The Red Foxes now stand at 28-17 on the season. Over the two games, junior Ashley Corriss (Sayville, N.Y.) led the Red Fox offense as she reached base in six of her nine plate appearances.

Game One: Army 5 - Marist 3

In game one, Corriss was the story as she reached base all four times she came to the plate. For the game she went 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Marist manufactured all three of their runs in the second inning as freshman Alyssa Zahka (Lexington, Mass) led off the inning with a walk. On the first pitch of the at-bat to freshman Haley Birnbaum (Lido Beach, N.Y.), Zahka was off as she stole second base, she continued running as the catcher's throw bounced into center field. After sophomore Danielle Koltz (Chenango Bridge, N.Y.), reached base via a walk, Marist put their runners in motion as Koltz got into an intentional run-down, thereby allowing Zahka to scamper in from third.

With the bases empty and two outs, sophomore Christina Lausch (Lancaster, Pa.) restarted the offense with a single up the middle. After junior Caitlin Schell (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.) worked a walk off of Army's Haley Pypes, Corriss came up and rocketed a triple to right center that hit off the bottom of the wall and bounded past the Black Knight center fielder. Marist notched three runs in the inning.

Marist's three run lead was short-lived as the Black Knights posted five of their own in the bottom half of the inning to take a 5-3 lead.

Sophomore Emily Osterhaus (Suwanee, Ga.) regrouped after the second and held the Army offense at bay for the rest of the game. In innings three through six, she allowed just two hits, both of which occurred in the third. She retired the final 10 batters of the game, to give her a final pitching line of six innings pitched, no earned runs, five hits, two walks and five strikeouts.

Game Two: Marist 11 - Army 1

In the second game, four Red Foxes came out looking to avenge their game one loss. Both offense and pitching did their parts to fulfill this as the team four players, who had two hits and two runs batted in: sophomore catcher Sarah Carmody (Camarillo, Calif.), junior designated player Lindsay Durant (Martinsville, N.J.), Koltz and Zahka. After scoring two runs in the top of the first on RBIs by Zahka and Koltz, the Red Foxes were led by

Freshman Paige Lewis's (Temecula, Calif.) performance in the circle. She held the two-run Marist lead for another four innings before the Red Foxes had five runs cross the plate in the top of the fifth.

With one out in the fifth, junior Nicole DiVirgilio (Aston, Pa.) started the offense off with a single down the left field that just barely stayed fair. After the single, the next four Red Foxes reached via three walks and a hit by pitch. The hit by pitch was of particular interest as game one pitcher, Emily Osterhaus, was the hit batsman. She received her first collegiate RBI as a run was forced across the plate. Durant then plated two runners to bring the lead to 6-0. Corriss finished the scoring for Marist in the fifth as she had an RBI off of a fielder's choice.

The lead stayed at 7-0, until the Red Foxes drove in four more runs in the top of the seventh. Carmody was credited with two RBIs as she drove in Lausch and Durant to make it 9-0. DiVirgilio and Zahka picked up the final two RBIs for Marist as they went into the bottom half of the inning up 11-0.

Army manufactured their first earned run of the twinbill as Alex Reynolds's double put her in position to come in off a Rachael Duval RBI single.

Marist won game two by a final score of 11-1.

Lewis picked up her MAAC-leading 14th win of the season on the strength of her seven strikeouts in seven innings pitched.

Marist will return to action this weekend in western New York, as the Red Foxes will have Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheaders at Canisius (Saturday, April 30) and Niagara (Sunday, April 1).