Melbourne, Fla. - The Marian softball team continued their undefeated start to the season on Thursday evening, as the Knights earned a pair of wins over WHAC schools Lourdes and Lawrence Tech. Marian is now 8-0 on the season with their wins.

Game 1 | Marian 5-0 Lourdes 
The Knights got off to an early start in their fifth game of the week, as Lily Wendt and Hayley Green hit back-to-back singles to drive Savannah Harwegner and Abby Madere to home plate to score the first two runs for evening. There was no sign of stopping Marian in the opening inning of the game as Abbey Hoffman scored a run with a sacrifice fly and Grace Meyer singled through the right side to drive home a run, helping Marian to their 4-0 start.

The lead would be all Olivia Stunkel would need, as the junior ace tossed six scoreless innings on the night, allowing three total base runners in the game while striking out five batters. Stunkel had a perfect start through two innings, and shook off an error and walk in the third to keep a no-hit opportunity alive. Stunkel would follow with perfect fourth and fifth innings, and in the bottom of the fifth Marian would add insurance to the win with Raegan Hiatt delivering a sacrifice fly to score Hoffman to push the lead to five runs.

Stunkel would lose her no-hit opportunity in the top of the sixth, as a one-out single would bust the hitless opportunity. The junior got out of the inning with a strikeout and pop up, and the shutout was secured in the seventh inning as Lauren Mayer pitched a scoreless inning to end the 5-0 victory.

Olivia Stunkel finished the night with five strikeouts and one hit allowed in her six innings, collecting her fourth win of the season while dropping her ERA under 1.00. Lauren Mayer contributed to pitching as well pitching the last inning and striking out one batter. At the plate, Grace Meyer was a perfect 2-2 with an RBI to lead the team in hits in the win, while five other Knights collected a base hit. Wendt, Greene, Hoffman, and Hiatt each had one RBI in the win. 

Game 2 | Marian 5-1 Lawrence Tech
The second game of the night for Marian was a pitchers dual, as Clover Brandt and Macy Coan locked horns throughout the seven-inning battle. Marian would manage to get base runners in both the first and second innings, but Brandt was able to limit Marian to just one trip to first base in each frame. Coan was just better than her counterpart in the first two innings, pitching a perfect first inning while stranding a two-out double in the second inning. Marian would manage to load the bases in the third inning in their offensive trip to the plate, but despite two singles and a walk the Knights came up empty against Brandt. 

Coan would shut down the Blue Devils in the third inning with a diving catch by the pitcher starting a double play, and in the fourth the freshman pitched a three-up, three-down frame. After Marian came up empty in their trip to the dish in the fifth inning, Coan ran into her first spot of trouble on the day as a lead-off triple would come in to score on a sacrifice fly, but would manage to end the inning with a ground out and strikeout to limit the damage to one run. The Knights would attempt to match in the sixth inning as two runners reached base, but the Blue Devils and Brandt prevented any runs to score.

Trailing 1-0 entering the seventh inning, Marian put their rally hats on, starting a charge as Mackenzie Dalton and Jenna Minnix posted back-to-back singles to start the inning. Savannah Harweger followed with an RBI single to tie the game, and after Anna Pritchett was intentionally walked, Abby Madere delievered a go-ahead RBI single. Hayley Greene would add to the Marian lead two batters later hitting a three-RBI triple, giving Marian a 5-1 lead. Coan would finish her win strong, as the freshman recorded a game-ending strikeout to cap the 5-1 victory.

Marian had nine hits as a team in the win, with Harweger posting two hits and one RBI. Madere had the game-winning hit, and Greene led the team in RBI with Marian's only extra base hit. Coan moved her record on the season to 2-0, as the freshman pitched her second complete game of the year. Coan allowed five hits and had two strikeouts with zero walks in the win. 

The Knights will play Cornerstone and Keiser on Friday, with first pitch scheduled for 10:00 a.m. against the Golden Eagles.

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