INDIANAPOLIS – No. 12 Marian softball team was back at MU Softball Diamond on Tuesday for a Crossroads League twin bill against Bethel. The Knights finished off the Pilots to earn the season sweep of Bethel in a pair of run-rule wins, improving to 35-3 overall and 24-2 in league action.
Game 1 | Marian 12-3 Bethel
Marian wasted no time to get on the scoreboard after Sierra Norman started the hitting frenzy with her 2 RBI double. The Knights pounded on three more runs after Brenna Fink singled to center to score Norman, and Savannah Baker smoke the triple to score two more, giving Marian the 5-0 lead after inning one.
Olivia Stunkel and her defense left the Pilots scoreless again, as the Marian continued their offensive tear in the bottom half of the second inning. A bunt by Anna Pritchett and an error allowed Savannah Harweger to advance home, before Hayley Green notched the double to right field to give Marian their seventh run of the game.
Bethel's offensive struggles continued in the top of third as they went three up three down, but the Knights kept the bats going in the bottom half of the inning as they recorded six hits and five runs. Marian tacked on two more with Madere 2 RBI single up the middle, before a sacrifice fly by Lily Wendt and two singles gave the Knights the 12-0 lead after three.
After a scoreless fourth inning for both sides, Bethel found a little bit of an offensive push as they registered two hits and scored two runs. However, Marian's lead was too much to come back from as the Knights would take game one 12-3.
Marian put together 12 hits, with Harweger, Norman, and Fink all having two. Baker recorded a triple, while Norman and Greene each added a double. Harweger did more that just swing the bat today as she had three stolen bases in the win. Norman, Fink, Madere, and Baker each posted two RBI. Stunkel and Jaylah Guilliam teamed up in the circle, with Stunkel throwing two innings with four strikeouts, while Guilliam finished the Pilots off with two innings pitched.
Game 2 | Marian 9-0 Bethel
Similar to game two, the Knights scored early as they got out to the five-goal lead. Norman kicked things off with the three-run bomb, before a single from Caitlyn Phillips scored two. Sydney Wilson went through her tear, going one-two-three in the first two innings.
The Pilots still struggled to find their first hit through the first three innings, but Marian had no issues with an inside the park homerun coming from Baker that also scored Grace Meyer who tripled before to hold the 7-0 lead going into the fourth inning.
Marian padded onto their lead with two more runs in the bottom half of the fourth before Abigail McPherson closed out Bethel in the top of the fifth to give the Knights the 9-0 victory.
Pritchett, Baker, and Phillips all recorded two hits in Marian's 11, while five other Knights each added one. Norman led the RBI category with three and added an inside the park homerun, and Phillips notched two RBI. Baker and Meyer each hit triples, with Pritchett posting the double. Wilson struck out two in her three innings pitched, while McPherson added a strikeout in her two innings pitched.
The Knights have a quick turnaround with a doubleheader at Mt. Vernon Nazarene, with the first game beginning at 3 p.m.
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