Winona Lake, Ind. - The Marian softball team rolled past Grace College on Tuesday afternoon in the doubleheader between the Knights and Lancers, and in the game one victory Marian softball head coach Scott Fleming collected win number 800 in his 22-year coaching career. Fleming's milestone comes in his 1057th career game as the Marian head coach. The Knights won game one 12-0 and game two 8-2. Marian is 32-6 overall on the season following the win and hold a 22-4 record in the Crossroads League.

Game 1 | Marian 12-0 Grace | 5 Innings

Lily Wendt got things rolling in the top of the first with a two-run blast to score her and Mystic Means on the play and take the lead over the Lancers. With Hayley Green up to the plate hitting a single into right field Jenna Minnix was able to score on the play to increase the 3-0 lead. Wendt struck again hitting a single in the top of the second to score Brooke Knox and Abbey Hofmann on the play increasing the lead to five. Grace continued to attempt to push at te lead with a walk followed by a single but Marian's defense pushed back to keep the 5-0 lead going into the third inning. 

With both teams having a dry third inning Marian struck big in the fourth inning with three singles from Knox, Hofmann, and Minnix. Grace Meyer doubled and Wendt walked to lead the Knights to a 10 point lead. Olivia Stunkel held the Lancers to a three straight outs with the help of Wendt with a foul out at first base. The Knights continued to strike with Wendt hitting another two-run home run over the left field fence to score her and Ella Piercy to increase the lead 12-0. Marian kept Grace at bay with Katie Lackman coming in to finish the game in the circle, facing four batters as she sealed the victory with a fly out to center.

Wendt was a perfect 3-3 with six RBI and two home runs, and Meyer had three RBI while recording a double. As a team, the Knights had 12 base hits in the victory. Stunkel (18-0) earned her 18th victory of the season in the game, striking out seven while pitching in her fourth shutout of the season. 

Marian's head coach Scott Fleming earned win number 800, doing so in his 1057th career game. Following game one of the doubleheader, Marian's skipper holds a career record of 800-257, with 437 of those victories coming against the Crossroads League. The veteran coach is in his 22nd season at Marian as the head softball coach, while also serving at various points in his Marian career as an assistant men's basketball coach and admissions counselor. Fleming is among the top-10 active coaches in the NAIA in career victories, and is the 11th NAIA softball coach to record their 800th career victory.

For Fleming, the milestone comes at the same location where he recorded win number 700, as nearly two years to the day, the Knights' head coach earned win 700 with a game one win at Grace College.

Game 2 | Marian 8-2 Grace 

Brooke Knox opened up the second game with a home run blast over the center field fence to put the Knights in the one run lead. Marian held the Lancers to three straight outs in the bottom of the first. The Knights were able to strike again with Hayley Greene and Jenna Minnix double stealing with Minnix stealing to increase the lead to two. At the next at bat Caroline hit a double deep to right center to score Greene and increase the 3-0 lead.

After yet another dry inning for Grace, Marian was able to strike once more with Lily Wendt scoring off of a single from Minnix. Greene was able to tack off two RBIs with a double deep into left field to score Grace Meyer and Minnix and extend the Knights lead to 5-0. The Lancers were able to get on the board for the first time today with a runner scored off of a double in the bottom of the third to decrease the Knights lead to four.

After a dry fourth and fifth inning for each team the Knights were able to fire off a couple more runs with Mystic Means scoring off of a ground out by Wendt to increase the lead back to five. Knox was able to score once more off of an error by the first basemen to bring the score 8-1. The Lancers held Marian scoreless in the seventh inning but were able to score one final run for themselves off of a single to bring the score 8-2. Marian got out of the game and secured the win with a 2-1 tag out.

Ally Malone led the team going 2-3 with a double, while Hayley Greene and Caroline Roop each recorded a double in the game. As a team Marian had 11 base hits in the win. Macy Coan earned the start pitching four innings and struck out one batter. Alayna Tesnar earned the win pitching two innings only giving up one hit. Lauren Mayer closed it out pitching the final inning striking out one batter.

The Knights will be back in action on Thursday as they return home to take on Bethel with first pitch set for 3 PM.

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