INDIANAPOLIS - The Marian softball team extended their winning streak to 13 consecutive games Wednesday afternoon as the Knights began Crossroads League play, sweeping Grace College in their home opener. Marian's pair of wins increase the season total to 13, with the overall record a strong 13-1.

GAME 1 | Marian 7-1 Grace

A pair of unusual errors plagued Marian in the first inning, as Grace scored the game's opening run on a pair of dropped fly balls. Olivia Stunkel was able to strand the pair of Lancers on the bases with back to back strikeouts and hold the damage to one run, while striking out two more in the second to keep the game a one-run contest.

In the bottom of the second the Knights notched their first runs in league play, loading the bases on a pair of base hits and a walk. With two outs, Savannah Harweger roped a double down the left field line, plating two runs to give Marian a 2-1 lead. Stunkel kept throwing hard as she picked up another strikeout in the third inning, while gaining run support from a two-out Hayley Greene double and RBI single from Savannah Baker. 

The sophomore continued to gel in the circle, striking out the side in both the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings to bring her strikeout total into double figures. The Knights gained run support for the pitcher in each the fifth and sixth, with Mackenzie Dalton chalking an RBI on an errant play made by the Lancers in the fifth. Three runs pushed across in the bottom of the sixth, as Caitlyn Phillips and Harweger racked back to back infield singles to get on base for Sierra Norman, who launched a 1-1 pitch to dead center for her first home run of the season.

Norman's homerun provided the final offense in the game, as Stunkel completed the 7-1 game with a four-batter seventh inning, locking down the win to improve to 6-0 on the season. Stunkel struckout a career-high 15 batters in the game, allowing one unearned run and two walks against three hits over seven innings. As a team Marian had nine hits, with Norman doubling and homering to lead the Knights. Baker and Harweger each had two hits in the win. 

GAME 2 | Marian 9-1 Grace | 6 Innings

The Knights got a lift from Sydney Wilson's pitching to start the second act of the doubleheader, as the fifth-year senior retired the side in order in each of the first two innings. In the bottom of the second the game's first runs were scored, as Hayley Greene reached second after the Lancers dropped a fly ball in center field. Two batters and six pitches later the error turned into two runs, as Abby Madere belted an 0-2 pitch to deep center for her first collegiate homerun. 

The 2-0 lead provided comfort for the southpaw, as Wilson stranded an error in the top of the third before gaining additional run support in the home half. Grace's Kierstin Fickas walked the bases loaded to start the inning, setting up Grace Meyer who delivered a two-RBI single off the left field wall to score a pair of runs. Madere walked to load the bases, and later in the inning an errant throw to third base to pick off Norman sprayed into left field, allowing the first baseman to score and push Marian ahead 5-0.

Grace broke their shutout in the fourth as Bree Gardinier shot a home run off Wilson to right center field, but the senior closed the inning strong gettting an groundout to the circle to close the frame. Harweger recorded an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth to score Brooke Knox and push Marian's lead to 6-1, and after a three-up, three-down frame from Wilson in the top of the fifth, the Knights plated two more in the home half with Hayley Greene hitting a solo home run and Knox recording an RBI single. 

Jaylah Guilliam entered to pitch the sixth and recorded a pair of strikeouts to protect the 8-1 lead, and in the home half Marian worked the bases loaded as Lily Wendt, Abbi Wirey, and Raegan Hiatt drew walks. Knox ended the game in a run-rule win following Hiatt's walk, sending the Knights home victorious 9-1 following her RBI single through the left side.

Wilson was near perfect in the win as she moved to 5-0 on the year, allowing two hits and one run while recording one strikeout in a 49-pitch, five-inning outing. Guilliam finished the game facing four batters, striking out two. Offensively the Knights recorded eight hits and played 16 position players in their lineup, getting a lift from Knox who was a perfect 3-3 with two RBI. Madere had two home runs as she and Greene each recorded home runs, while Meyer and Harweger had the other two hits. Harweger walked three times in the win and Wirey drew a pair of walks.

With mother nature washing out Marian's remaining two scheduled doubleheaders of the week, the Knights will be off until March 21, when they host Goshen College at 3 p.m.

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