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April 27, 2010

INDIANAPOLIS - The No. 13-ranked Marian University softball team clinched its second-ever Mid-Central College Conference regular season championship on Tuesday afternoon with a doubleheader sweep of the University of Saint Francis (Ind.) at Marian University Softball Field.

The 13th-ranked Knights defeated the Cougars 3-2 in eight innings in game one, and they picked up a 2-1 victory in game two to clinch the championship with a 36-4 overall record and an unblemished 14-0 mark in the MCC. They have now won 16 straight contests.

In the first contest of the day, freshman Emily Gwaltney improved her record to 15-2 on the season. Gwaltney allowed five hits, walked two and struck out seven to earn her 14th complete game of the season.  The win was also head coach and 2009 MCC Coach of the Year Scott Fleming's 200th of his career.

The contest was a pitchers' duel, with no runs scoring until the Cougars' half of the eighth inning. USF broke the scoreless tie with an RBI-triple down the right field line and added to its total with an RBI-single.

The Knights answered in the bottom of the eighth, scoring three runs off of two hits and two Cougar errors.

Junior Jessica Slayton started off the inning and reached on a throwing error by the Saint Francis third basemen. Junior Chelsea Bell then succeeded in moving the runner with a single to left field. Freshman Helen Rogers reached on another error, this time by the USF shortstop and loaded the bases for Gwaltney. With a swing of the bat, Gwaltney hit a two-run RBI-single up the middle to keep the Knights alive.

Senior Melissa Coutz stepped to the plate with no outs and delivered a surprise squeeze bunt that would score Rogers with the winning run to deliver the 3-2 victory.

Slayton, Bell, Gwaltney, and Coutz each had a hit for the Knights. Gwaltney led the way with two RBI, while Coutz added one.

In between contests, the Knights honored seniors Coutz, Sandy Corum, Angie Such, and Chelsea Young, before their last home game in a Knights uniform.

Corum got the win in game two for the Knights and improved her record to 15-1 on the season. She surrendered five hits, walked one, and eclipsed the 100 strike out mark with her six strike outs, bringing her season total to 101.

After a huge eighth inning in game one, the Knights kept the bats going in game two. Slayton got things started in the second game with a leadoff single and advanced to second on a throwing error, then advanced to third off a sacrifice bunt by Bell. Gwaltney stepped up to the plate and delivered her team-leading 55th RBI of the season to give the Knights a 1-0 lead.

The Cougars were able to even the score in the top of the third inning with an unearned run off a Knight error.

MU would not let up. The Knights scored one run off of two hits to regain the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Senior Angie Such led off the inning with a single to left, before sophomore Kelsey Uebelhor dropped a sacrifice bunt to advance sophomore Emily Pusti. Slayton then drove in what ended up as the winning run, in the same fashion she started the game, with a single down the right field line. They would not relinquish the 2-1 lead as Corum shut down the Cougars to pick up her 29th win in the past two seasons.

Slayton led the Knights after she went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Gwaltney, Coutz and Such each had a hit, while Gwaltney drove in another run for the Knights.

The Knights are back in action on Wednesday as they travel to Winona Lake, Ind., to take on the Lancers of Grace College in their last regular season doubleheader. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m.

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