INDIANAPOLIS - The Marian softball team split its Thursday doubleheader to open the week, winning game one against Mount Vernon Nazarene in five innings before falling 12-6 in the series finale. Marian's pair of games moves the team's overall record to 20-7 overall and 12-6 in Crossroads League play.

Game One | Marian 10-1 Mount Vernon Nazarene | 5 Innings
Macy Coan lifted Marian to a game one win, leading the team from the circle as she pitched four of five scoreless innings in the victory. As the junior pitched a scoreless first inning, she gained quick run support in the bottom of the first inning with Abby Madere's RBI double, putting the team in front 1-0.

The lift for the pitcher came in the bottom of the second inning, as Marian exploited the Cougars' pitching staff for six runs in the frame. The scoring got started with a two-run home run from Haley Webb, as her first base hit as a Knight made it a 3-0 game. Marian continued to fill the base paths and scored another run on a wild pitch, while Mati Hughes delivered a damaging two-run double to make the game a 6-0 score. Mallorie Beutel roped an RBI single as the inning progressed, putting the Knights in front 7-0.

Mount Vernon would score its lone run of the game in the top of the third on a solo home run from Skylar Zimmerman, but Marian immediately answered in the home half, scoring Abbey Hofmann on Abby Madere's RBI groundout. The Knights' scoring onslaught would finish in the fourth inning, as Abbey Hofmann and Delaney Rundle picked up RBI base hits, putting Marian in the driver's seat with a 10-1 lead.

With a commanding lead, Coan quickly retired the side in the top of the fifth inning, picking up a strikeout as she forced the final three outs to lock down the 10-1 lead. 

Coan (8-2) earned her eighth win of the season, pitching a complete game with five hits and one run allowed. The junior tossed four strikeouts in her 80-pitch outing, facing 21 total batters. Offensively, Marian had seven players collect one base hit each, with Madere, Hughes, and Webb each leading the way with two RBI. 

Game Two | Marian 6-12 Mount Vernon Nazarene
Game two did not go the way of the Knights, as a rocky start on defense with two errors helped the Cougars score twice on Lexi Smith. Smith was able to get out of the jam and got a quick lift as the offense racked up multiple hits in the first inning to score four runs. Abby Madere doubled in two runs to tie the game, while Mallorie Beutel doubled in a run after Madere scored on a wild pitch, taking the lead back at a 4-2 count.

The two-run lead quickly shrank, as Mount Vernon retaliated with a four-run frame, evaporating Marian's hold on the game to take control. The big inning against Smith put the Knights in a 6-4 deficit, one they would not dent until the bottom of the fourth inning when Abbey Hofmann hit a solo home run. Marian put runners on behind Hofmann, but was unable to get the big hit, ending the fourth inning trailing by a 6-5 count. 

Mount Vernon responded to the home run with pitcher Dakota Staffan doubling in a pair of runs, giving the visitors a three-run lead. The margin would shrink by one in the home half of the fifth as Haley Webb singled in a run, moving into the sixth inning with the game in an 8-6 score. 

A double play ruined Marian's threat of scoring in the sixth inning, and in the seventh, Mount Vernon put the game on ice, plating four runs against Alayna Tesnar to control the lead 12-6. A three-run home run put the game to rest, as Lily Wendt's double in the bottom of the seventh was the lone chance to dent the margin, ending the game in a 12-6 loss.

The loss secured the first season in program history where Marian suffered a pair of defeats against the Cougars, as the team split each of the two doubleheaders this season. Hofmann went 2-4 in the loss with a home run, and Wendt with 2-4 with a double. Abby Madere led the way with two RBI, and Delaney Rundle enjoyed a two-hit game. Lexi Smith (5-2) suffered the loss, allowing 10 hits and eight runs in five innings of work. Alayna Tesnar allowed four hits and runs over her two innings of relief. 

Marian hosts Huntington on Friday afternoon to conclude its weekly schedule, taking on the Foresters at 2:00 p.m.

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