INDIANAPOLIS - The Marian softball team enjoyed Good Friday with a pair of home victories, as the Knights outlasted Huntington 7-5 in game one on a walk-off Haley Webb home run, while Alayna Tesnar pitched a complete game shutout in the second act of a 5-0 victory. Marian's sweep improves the team to 22-7 on the season and 14-6 in the Crossroads League play.

Game One | Marian 7-5 Huntington | 10 Innings
Huntington sparked the scoring in game one on Friday as they were able to generate an unearned run off starter Macy Coan, but the damage was limited to one by the junior as she picked up a strikeout to strand two Foresters. Marian responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning, as Abbey Hofmann hit a solo home run to lead off the side, while Ally Malone would later record an RBI on a groundout, scoring Abby Madere to give the Knights a 2-1 lead after the first frame.

Coan dialed in after the first and pitched four consecutive scoreless innings, facing her only trouble until the sixth in the second inning, where she held two Huntington runners on base. The starter gained a pair of runs in support in the bottom of the second as Mystic Means came home to score on an error after Abbey Hofmann's single, while Hofmann charged home on Delaney Rundle's RBI base hit, putting the game in a 4-1 state. 

Leading 4-1 entering the sixth inning, the Knights looked to make quick work of Huntington in the frame as Coan forced the first out after allowing a single, but a second base hit and walk would load the bases. A pinch-hit groundout would follow the walk to score a Forester, and with two outs, Josslynn Harbert singled in two more, tying the game 4-4. Coan would get out of the inning with a strikeout, but did not see her team retake the lead in the home half, as Delaney Rundle lined out with two runners on in the bottom of the sixth. 

Both Marian and Huntington put runners on in the seventh inning and failed to score a go-ahead or game-winning run, sending the game to extra innings. Coan scattered two hits in a scoreless eighth, but Marian came up empty with two on in scoring position in the ensuing half inning, extending the contest to the ninth. The ninth inning passed scoreless, and in the top of the 10th, Huntington took advantage of the international tiebreak rule, scoring Maddie Goheen on Gaby Hypes double, taking a 5-4 lead. Coan would work out of a first-and-third situation to end the inning as Mati Hughes caught a foul out to end the inning, keeping the game within run headed into the home half.

In the bottom of the 10th inning, Ally Malone was placed on second in the tiebreak rules, and moved over to third on a wild pitch. Lily Wendt walked after the wild pitch to put the game-winning run on base, setting up Haley Webb after the senior stole second base. After taking a first-pitch ball, Webb dialed in at her second pitch, launching a fastball from Bethany Haselby out of the yard to left field, cranking her first collegiate walk-off home run to lift the Knights to a 7-5 victory.

Marian sprayed 11 base hits in the win, with Hofmann, Rundle, Abby Madere, and Webb each recording two. Webb led the team with three RBI, all coming on her home run, while Hofmann reached base a team-best three times. Webb's home run was the second of the season for the junior. In the circle, Macy Coan (9-2) picked up the win, tossing a complete game. The 10 innings and 159 pitches were both career highs, as she allowed five runs, three of which were earned, and scattered 11 hits while striking out four batters to complete the win. 

Game Two | Marian 5-0 Huntington
In the second outing, Marian took a pair of innings to get the offense going, as the pitching headlined early with Alayna Tesnar and Natalie Haselby battling in the circle. Tesnar and Haselby each stranded a single in the first inning, while in the second, Marian's starter left a double stuck at second, while the Forester pitcher left two Knights on base. 

Tesnar recorded a three-up, three-down third inning, and in the home half, the offense busted two runs, with Abby Madere doubling home Ella Piercy and Delaney Rundle, giving Marian a 2-0 lead. The sophomore pitched another perfect frame in the fourth, and gained two more runs of support in the bottom half inning, as Mallorie Beutel brought home Lily Wendt on an RBI groundout, while Haley Webb came home to score on an RBI single from Hofmann, making it a 4-0 game.

The runs would be all Marian's sophomore needed, as she continued to groove with a perfect fifth in which she fielded her position twice, while in the sixth she sat down the Foresters in order. Delaney Rundle singled in a run to give Marian a 5-0 lead after the bottom of the sixth, and in the seventh, Tesnar delivered once again, stranding a runner she put on base at third with a game-ending strikeout, closing down the win with a complete-game shutout.

Tesnar (8-3) picked up her eighth win of the season in the game two victory, recording her fifth complete game and third shutout of the campaign. The sophomore allowed two hits and recorded two strikeouts in the win, making four outs from the circle. At the plate, Hofmann, Rundle, Madere, and Webb each logged two base hits, with Madere leading the way with two RBI. Both Madere and Webb doubled in their two-hit performances. 

Marian returns to play on the road, traveling for all six of their games in the coming week. The first doubleheader of the week takes Marian to Goshen College on Tuesday, April 7.

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