Emmitsburg, Md. (April 23, 2023)--Mount St. Mary's stretched its win streak to eight games with a doubleheader sweep of Marist at Our Lady of the Meadows Field on campus on Sunday afternoon.
Mariah Godde's walk-off eighth-inning grand slam propelled the Mount to a 7-3 victory in the opening game. The Mount scored four times in the bottom of the first inning en route to a 5-2 win in game two. The Mountaineers improve to 27-15 overall and 10-3 in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with today's victories.
In the opening game, Mount St. Mary's broke a scoreless tie with a three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to grab the lead.
Hannah Gartrell walked to open the inning with pinch runner
Zoe Truxon moving to second on a groundout. After Marist retired the next batter on a popout,
Kaia Bonshock singled to right field to plate Truxon with the game's first run.
Vanessa Martin followed with a two-run home run to left center field to give the Mount a three-run lead.
The Red Foxes (20-25, 7-5 MAAC) chipped away at the Mount's advantage and to tie the score. In the top of the fifth, Marist scored an unearned run when Peyton Pusey reached on an infield single. An errant throw attempting to get Pusey out at first allowed pinch-runner Lauren Morrell to score to make it 3-1. In the top of the sixth, Maddie Pleasants cut the Mount's lead with an inside-the-park home run to right field. Pleasants hit a ball over the head of the Mount's right fielder, who was injured on the play. Mount center fielder Martin had to come all the way to the right field corner to retrieve the ball, allowing Pleasants to make it around the bases for the inside-the-park round tripper.
Marist evened the score in the top of the seventh. Megan Davis walked and Pusey reached on an infield single to put runners on first and second with no outs. Mount starting pitcher
Avery Neuhart retired Sam Freeland on a fly out to right for the first out, but pinch runner Hannah Brock advanced to third on the play. Neuhart got the next batter, Haley Ahr, to ground the ball to Godde at short, who got the force out at second for the second out. Mount second baseman
Abigayle Perry made the throw to first, but Ahr got to the base just in time to avoid the double play. Pleasants then followed with a base hit to center to tie the score.
The score remained 3-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. With one out,
Maggie Kane started the rally with a perfectly place bunt single. Gartrell followed with a slow roller down the first base line for an infield hit to put runners on first and second, and when
Tori Bowles was hit by a pitch, the bases were loaded. That set the stage for Godde, who drilled a 1-2 pitch over the fence in left-center field for a walk-off grand slam.
Bonshock was the lone Mountaineer to record two hits in the game, going 2-for-3 at the plate. Neuhart allowed three runs (two earned) with five strikeouts in the complete-game effort to improve to 10-3 on the season.
The Mount started quickly in game two, scoring four times in the bottom of the first inning to take control of the game. Perry walked to lead off the inning, and Kane reached on a bunt single with Perry moving to third on an errant throw. After Kane stole second base, a passed ball allowed Perry to score for a 1-0 lead. Bowles followed with an RBI double to make it 2-0, and a third run scored when Godde reached on an error by the right fielder. Bonshock's RBI single closed out the scoring in the inning for the four-run lead.
Mount starter
Olivia Murphy cruised through the first three innings, but ran into trouble in the fourth when Marist scored twice to cut the Mount's lead in half. The Mount added an insurance run in the fifth. Godde singled with one out, and then
Vanessa Martin singled through the right side of the infield with two outs with Godde moving on the play. Godde was able to score on the play when the throw to third was wild.
Murphy retired Marist in order in each of the final two innings to seal the win. Murphy improved to 9-5 with the complete-game effort, allowing two runs while striking out four. Kane went 3-for-4 at the plate in the win with Martin adding a pair of hits.
With today's sweep, Mount St. Mary's remains in a tie for second place in the MAAC standings with Siena with 10-3 records in conference play. Canisius leads the MAAC standings with a 12-2 league mark. The Mount's 27 wins this season are the second-most in a season in program history. The school record for wins is 31 set by the 2006 squad. The Mount also improves to 20-3 at home this season, and has won 13 of its past 14 games at Our Lady of the Meadows Field.
Mount St. Mary's hosts Siena tomorrow at noon to finish Saturday's second game of the doubleheader that was halted by rain. Siena leads that contest, 2-0, in the top of the fourth inning.
