Huntington, Ind. - The Marian Softball team swept the Huntington Foresters Friday evening on the road. After the pair of wins, the Knights move to 11-2 overall on the year and 3-1 in the Crossroads League. 

Game 1 | Marian 12-6 Huntington
After a scoreless inning for both sides, the Knights were able to strike first with Abbey Hoffman hitting a three-run home run to score both Karly Anderson and Alyssa Donaldson. Mati Hughes was able to extend the lead with a double to left field, scoring Delaney Rundle. In the next at-bat, Ally Malone struck with a single to score Abby Madere and take the 6-0 lead. As the inning turned over, Huntington struck out a double, bringing Marian's lead down by one.

Marian quickly fought back with a single from Madere to score Hofmann and bring the game back within a six-point margin. The Foresters were able to hold Marian scoreless in the fourth, striking for themselves with three runs scored off a home run, double, and single. 

With the score 7-4 in favor of Marian, Hughes struck again with a single to right field to score Rundle. Huntington continued to push back with a single to score two runners and bring the score within two. Marian was able to shut down the Foresters' push with Madere reaching on an error scoring Hofmann, followed by Hughes doubling to left center to score Rundle. The Knights were not done there, with Malone following up with a single to score Madere, and Lily Wendt hitting a sacrifice fly to score Hughes. Huntington attempted a comeback with a walk, but Marian was able to put down the next two batters with a strikeout looking and a groundout to Malone at shortstop, ending the game with a 12-6 win for the Knights. 

Abbey Hofmann, Abby Madere, Mati Hughes, Ally Malone, and Lily Wendt led the way, all going 3-5 from the plate, with Hofmann, Hughes, and Malone all recording three RBIs. Madere and Wendt also recorded one RBI each. Hughes recorded a pair of doubles while Hofmann recorded one double and a home run. Delaney Rundle recorded the singular stolen base of the game. 

In the circle, Macy Coan gained the start and took the win, pitching five innings, only giving up nine hits and six runs off of her 92 pitches in her 24 batters faced. Coan also recorded four strikeouts in her outing. Lexi Smith came in for the final two innings in relief, giving up no hits and striking out two of her six batters faced.

Game 2 | Marian 21-9 Huntington
Marian struck first with Delaney Rundle scoring off a sacrifice fly from Abby Madere, Huntington was quick to follow up with a trio of runs to take the 3-1 lead over the Knights. Karly Anderson got the runs rolling with a single to score Lily Wendt and Ally Malone, bringing the game tied at three. The Knights continued to strike with Anderson scoring off of an error by the center fielder off of Hofmann's hit. 

In the next inning, Ally Malone and Hofmann homered back-to-back, with Hofmann hitting a grand slam to put Marian up 9-3. The Foresters fought back with a run in the third inning, but the Knights fought back hard with five more runs scored from Madere, Hughes, Mallorie Beutel, Wendt, and Alex Kiemeyer. Huntington had an equally big fourth inning with five runs scored, bringing the game 14-9 in favor of Marian. The fireworks continued for Marian with a single from Kiemeyer to score Beutel, Wendt, and Malone, followed up by a grand slam from Madere to put the Knights in the lead 21-9. After a pair of walks from Huntington the Knights were able to record three quick outs to take their run-rule win in the fifth inning.

Abby Madere and Ally Malone led the Knights, going 3-5 from the plate, while Madere led the Knights in RBIs with six, and Malone had two. Abbey Hofmann also had six RBIs, while Alex Kiemeyer had three and Karly Anderson had two. In the circle, Alayna Tesnar recorded 3.2 innings pitched, giving up eight hits. Katie Lackman came in as relief, pitching 1.1 innings, facing four batters and striking out one.

Marian will be back in action tomorrow, returning home to take on Goshen College in a doubleheader, with game one scheduled for 1 PM and game two for 3 PM. 

MUKnights.com: Your online source for Marian Athletics, tickets, multimedia, Knight merchandise, photos, and more.