On Sunday afternoon, the Marist Red Foxes took game one over the Quinnipiac Bobcats by a score of 13-9.
The offense got going right away as senior pitcher Jaclyn Gonzalez walked four of the first five hitters of the game. This included one with the bases-loaded to bring in the first run of the game.
Later in the inning, Isabella Manory knocked a single to extend the lead to two before the Bobcats even stepped to the plate.
The Bobcats tied the game in the bottom of the second inning in astonishing fashion. With runners on the corners, junior infielder Natalia Apatiga got into an intentional run down, allowing junior outfielder Noelle Reid to score. However, while in the rundown, junior first basemen Maddie Gore threw the ball off Apatigas’s head and it redirected into the outfield, allowing her to score.
The Red Foxes regained their two-run lead in the top of the fourth, but the Bobcats were once again able to tie things up, this time at four in the bottom half of the inning. Apatiga again was in the middle of things with a two-RBI double.
Marist took full control in the fourth highlighted by a Manory two-run home run to extend the lead to 7-4 and then a three-run home run by senior pitcher Maddie Pleasants, a ball that went off the Quinnipiac flag.
This tied the game at 12-4, and the Red Foxes needed just six outs to clinch an early finish via the mercy rule.
However, with the score not changing going to the bottom of the fifth, the Bobcats were just two outs from being mercyed.
Then senior outfielder Amanda Engel walked with the bases loaded to make it a seven-run game. A pair of pass balls made it a five-run game at 12-7. Sophomore pitcher Lauren Hilliard and junior infielder Sofia Vega each got RBI singles to make it a 12-9 game heading to the sixth.
“We’ve just really bought in,” said head coach Hillary Smith, “Bobcats are scrappy. They never die, they always keep fighting.”
The Red Foxes added a run in the sixth off a sacrifice fly by sophomore infielder Samantha Rogers.
The Bobcats bats got hot again in the bottom of the seventh as the first two runners in the inning reached via a walk and an infield single.
Following back-to-back strikeouts, another infield single, this time by Vega, sophomore catcher Riley Potter came up with the bases loaded.
In stunning fashion, a team that was just two outs from having the mercy rule applied, was now just one swing from tying things up.
“Yeah game one was crazy,” continued Smith. “It was a lot of back and forth, they showed so much fight.”
Much to the dismay of the Bobcats, graduate pitcher Kiley Myers did her job and struck out Potter to secure the win for Marist.
