May 8, 2011

Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Red Foxes split a doubleheader with the MAAC leading Fairfield Stags on Sunday afternoon. In the conference regular season finales for each team and seeding for the upcoming MAAC Tournament on the line, the squads faced off in 14 innings of hard fought action. In game one, sophomore Emily Osterhaus (Suwanee, Ga.) went toe-to-toe with her fellow MAAC Pitcher of the Year candidate Sarah Minice and led the Red Foxes to a 1-0 win on the strength of a complete game shutout. In game two, 12 scattered hits led the Stags to a 4-1 victory.

With this outcome and a Manhattan sweep over Iona, Marist finishes tied for second in the MAAC with a 12-4 mark and the number three seed.

Game 1: Marist 1 - Fairfield 0

Pitching was the story of game one as Osterhaus and Minice controlled the action throughout. Marist manufactured the only run of the game in the fifth inning as sophomore Nicole Van Loan (Kingston, N.Y.) then drew a walk after a long at bat with multiple foul balls to put runners on first and second. Junior Ashley Corriss (Sayville, N.Y.) was the next batter and singled up the middle drive in Lausch for the go-ahead run.

The one run stood as Osterhaus continued to keep the Stags off balance over the final two innings to complete the five-hit, eight strikeout shutout. With the win, she improved her season record to 14-7.

Game 2: Fairfield 4 - Marist 1

With the top seed for the MAAC Tournament on the line in the second game, Fairfield got an early jump as the Stags strung together three hits to score two in the second inning.

Marist stayed within striking distance with stellar defense, highlighted by a leaping over-the-fence grab by center fielder Caitlin Schell (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.), who robbed Fairfield's Kimi Kurata of a home run in the top of the fifth. The Red Foxes built off of that momentum and scored in the bottom of the inning. Schell kicked started the offense with lead-off walk. The Red Foxes' number nine hitter, Lausch stepped to the plate and took strike one, as Schell broke for and successfully stole second base. Two pitches later, Lausch rocketed a double to the right-center gap to score Schell for Marist's first run of the game. Fairfield called on game one starter Minice to come in from the bullpen and she promptly retired Marist's next three batters end the fifth with a score of Fairfield 2 - Marist 1.

Fairfield put single runs on the board in the sixth and seventh innings to finish the game's scoring at four to one.

Lausch finished the game batting three for three with two doubles and an RBI. With her performance in the doubleheader she improved her 2011 batting average 27 points from .212 to .239.

After today's Marist-Fairfield and Manhattan-Iona outcomes, the seedings for the MAAC Tournament will be as follows.... #1 Fairfield, #2 Manhattan, #3 Marist and #4 Iona.

The tournament will begin on Thursday with game one of the double elimination play scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m.