Despite out-hitting the Marist Red Foxes in both games of Friday’s doubleheader, the Quinnipiac Bobcats fell twice, 5-4 in game one and 2-1 in game two.
The Bobcats stranded 18 runners on base across both games, and nearly every inning ended the same way. A hit, a walk and a runner in scoring position, yet nothing to show for it.
Sophomore right-hander Shannon Kendall worked a clean first inning in game one before the Bobcats loaded the bases in the bottom half. Senior infielder Sofia Vega singled and stole second. Senior catcher Kennedy Demott was hit by a pitch.
This set up senior outfielder Ally Hochstadter, who lined a base hit to left, but Marist freshman outfielder Anabelle Geiser gunned down pinch runner Mac Davis at the plate with a perfect throw to end the threat.
This was a common theme through both games.
Marist broke through in the third. Freshman utility McKenna Manley and senior outfielder Peyton Pusey opened the inning with singles. Graduate shortstop Haley Ahr, the reigning MAAC Preseason Player of the Year, drove them both in with a single up the middle.
Sophomore infielder Sienna Kunze, freshman utility Livia Wiltsie and senior catcher Isabella Manory added RBI hits of their own, giving the Red Foxes a 5-0 lead.
The Bobcats quickly answered in the bottom half. Vega singled, Hochstadter plated a run with a single through the left side, and senior shortstop Natalia Apatiga scored on a fielder’s error. With the bases loaded and one out, Hochstadter was cut down at the plate trying to score from second, and the rally stopped right there.
Freshman right-hander Jasmine Kline took over for Kendall in the fourth and allowed one hit the rest of the way. Her work kept the Bobcats within striking distance, and they cut the lead to one in the sixth on an RBI single from Demott and Hochstadter’s second double of the game, a shot that rolled to the warning track in right center.
The Bobcats had a chance to get into extra innings when Ashley Garcia worked the toughest at-bat of the game. She sawed off foul ball after foul ball before lining a ball up the middle on a 2-2 count. The ball hit off Manley’s glove and bounced into center, allowing Garcia to reach safely on the error and bring life to the Bobcats.
Caelin Kosvitch pinch ran for Ashley Garcia.
But it was all for naught as Mary Fogg could not bring in the tying run as she flew out to left center, ending the game score 5-4.
The second game was much tighter but produced the same frustration for the Bobcats. Redshirt sophomore Stella Blanchard, who closed out the opener, stayed in the circle for Marist and finished off a 103-pitch complete game. Kendall returned for Quinnipiac on short rest and matched Blacnhard through four scoreless innings.
Marist pushed an unearned run across in the fifth after the Freshman second baseman Kinsley Cox bobbled a ball at second base, and Ahr again drove it home with a single up the middle.
Quinnipiac came right back. Senior outfielder Noelle Reid dropped a bunt single in front of Blanchard, freshman designated player Ashley Garcia ripped a single to left to tie the game, and Fogg drew a bases-loaded walk. The Bobcats could not push the tiebreaker across.
The play of the day came in the sixth when Marist loaded the bases with one out and freshman first baseman Lily Roumelis lifted a ball toward the left field gap that looked like extra bases. Hochstadter read it perfectly, dove, and came up clean. The run scored on the sacrifice fly, but both dugouts went nuts for the catch, both for different reasons.
Quinnipiac once again had one last chance in the seventh. Garcia singled up the middle, Fogg walked, and Vega popped up before Demott grounded out to short to end the game.
Both games ended similarly, with the Bobcats having multiple chances to take control but never getting over the hump.
Marist improved to 23-19 and 17-3 in the MAAC, tightening its grip on first place. Quinnipiac fell to 18-15 and 13-8 in the conference, as they look to avoid the sweep in the final game of the series on Saturday, April 18. First pitch is set for 12 p.m.
