MARIETTA, Ohio – Marietta College (11-7) earned a pair of one-run victories against Kenyon College (13-9) on Sunday, winning the opener 6-5 before claiming a 2-1 decision in the second contest. The losses moved the Ladies' skid to six-straight games.
GAME ONE
Marietta burned a three-run lead in the top of the sixth before coming back in the home half of the inning with the final run of the game.
Leading up to that, the Pioneers got out to a 2-0 advantage in the first as Alyssa Cook and Kayla Alderson each registered run-scoring singles. Then in the second frame, after the Ladies missed a chance to score with two runners in scoring position, Maicy Kirk drove a ball to short and pushed the home team's third run across.
After missing a chance to score in the second, the Ladies came back with two runs in the third.
Britny Patterson smacked a double to center field and scored
Grace Finn to bring the tally to 3-1. In the next at-bat, freshman
Nicole Bishay added a sacrifice fly and plated Patterson.
Despite the good inning, Kenyon could not keep Marietta off the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth. Cook drove in a pair with a two-bagger to center field and that moved the score to 5-2.
Down by three, the Ladies rallied in the sixth.
Grace Pilz tallied a two-run homer to right field before
Clare McMahon tied the game with a two-out RBI single that scored
Emily Pater.
With the score tied at 5-5, Marietta came up with some clutch hits. Pater retired the first two batters of the sixth, but three straight singles, including one by Alderson, drove the sixth and final run across.
For the Ladies in the seventh, only Patterson reached base as she singled.
GAME TWO
A fantastic pitching matchup between Bishay and Maddi Liston was only to be spoiled as Marietta won, 2-1.
Bishay took the tough-luck loss by tossing six innings, scattering three hits and inducing 17 combined groundouts and flyouts. For Liston, she went the distance, struck out three and saw her defense record 15 flyouts.
In the first two frames for Kenyon, only Finn and
Lauren Graf tallied hits. As for the Pioneers, they were retired in order by Bishay through the first two frames before a single by Erin Miller notched the home team's first connection.
After three scoreless, Marietta found two in the fourth. Two batters after Cook doubled, Alderson hit a two-run bomb to right-center to break the scoreless tie.
Kenyon really couldn't do anything after that, as its only tally of the game came in the seventh. Pilz hit another homer, this one to center field, and it brought the score to 2-1. The two homers from Pilz during the doubleheader moved her career mark to 15, good for fourth all-time.
The Ladies will try and snap their six-game winless streak on March 27 when they visit Capital University for two games.
