ROCK HILL, South Carolina –
Miah McDonald set Marist softball's career records for home runs and RBIs, and
Haley Ahr tied the program's single-game record for home runs as the Red Foxes went 1-1 on their first day of play at the Coach Cooke Memorial Tournament.
In game one, Marist shut out Southern Indiana by a score of 11-0. Ahr belted three homers, and McDonald then broke the program's career record for RBIs on a three-run homer in the seventh.
In game two, McDonald set the program record with a solo homer in the second, but the Red Foxes fell to host Winthrop by a score of 5-1.
Marist is now 11-5 on the season.
- Marist scored twice in the first – first on an error, and then on a single by Maddie Pleasants, which brought home McDonald.
- Marist hit three solo homers in the span of four hitters in the third. Ahr and Pleasants went back-to-back, and then Sienna Kunze went deep two hitters after Pleasants.
- Ahr's second homer of the day gave Marist a 6-0 lead in the fourth. Later in the inning, Samantha Rogers' RBI single brought home Isabella Manory.
- In the top of the seventh, McDonald's three-run homer catapulted Marist to a 10-0 advantage. Ahr then followed with her third homer of the game.
- The Red Foxes finished with 14 hits, led by Ahr with three. McDonald, Pleasants, Kunze, Rogers, and Peyton Pusey had two apiece.
- Kiley Myers (7-0) allowed just three hits and one walk while striking out three in six shutout innings in just 65 pitches. Emma Bayor pitched a scoreless seventh with a strikeout.
- Katie Beck's two-run homer for Winthrop opened the scoring in the bottom of the second.
- McDonald's record-breaking homer brought Marist to within one in the third.
- Beck cleared the based with a double in the sixth, which extended Winthrop's lead to the final margin of 5-1.
- Pleasants went the distance in the circle. She struck out eight and walked just one.
- McDonald now has 34 home runs and 148 RBIs in her career. The previous record of 33 home runs was set by Amanda Koldjeski, who played at Marist from 1997-2001. The previous record of 145 RBIs was set by Krysten Van Natta, who played shortstop for the Red Foxes from 2013-16.
- The last Red Fox to homer three times in a game was Rebecca Freeman in 2017.
- Myers now has seven wins and a save in her eight appearances this year with an 0.69 ERA.
- Marist will play twice on Saturday in the Coach Cooke Memorial Tournament.
- The Red Foxes will face Youngstown State at 10 a.m., followed by Charlotte at 12:30 p.m.
