FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Fairfield University softball team dropped a pair of games against Marist College on Friday afternoon, setting up the final game of the three-game series on Saturday. The visiting team registered a 16-5 six-inning win in the opener and a 3-1 victory in the second game. The Stags will celebrate their senior class before the game with festivities scheduled for 11:45 am and first pitch slated for noon.
In the opening game, the Red Foxes opened a six-run lead just three innings into the game, scoring twice in the second and four times in the third inning. The team used a little bit of everything to push runs across the plate including a fielder's choice grounder, a double steal, a sacrifice fly, and a few RBI singles.
The Stags recovered quickly though and cut into that deficit with four runs of their own in the bottom of the third before adding another run in the fourth to bring the home team within a run at 6-5. Fairfield used singles to chase its runs home as
Charli Warren posted a pair of RBI singles in addition to
Morgan Sylvestre's run-scoring base hit and
Delaney Whieldon's two-run single.
Marist gained back a larger lead when Samantha Rogers sent a three-run homer over the left-center field fence followed by a solo home run from Ronni Howard on the very next pitch to highlight a six-run fifth inning. The Red Foxes tacked on four more runs in the sixth inning with Miah McDonald providing a key two-run double to close out the scoring.
Warren and
Cara Kochakian each recorded a pair of hits in the first game which paced the Fairfield offense. The Stags finished the game with eight hits from six different student-athletes.
The second game played a more controlled pace with Marist scoring single runs in three different innings. The Red Foxes scored during their first at-bat, using a double steal to grab an early 1-0 lead. Miah McDonald was on the front part of that play, scoring the game's first run.
Marist continued to use the long ball in game two, representing its single runs with a solo home run from Peyton Pusey and another from Kaitlyn Husic.
Fairfield broke up the shutout in the bottom of the seventh inning, starting the frame with a single from
Megan Forbes. The graduate student advanced to third base following
Cara Kochakian's base hit which ended in Kochakian being caught trying to reach second base on the throw into the infield.
Quinn McGonigle brought home the Fairfield run with a grounder to the left side, making the score 3-1.
