WILMINGTON - Marietta College's women's softball team opened their Ohio Athletic Conference season with a 14-8 and 3-1 sweep of Wilmington Saturday as freshman pitcher Chelsea Chaffin picked up a victory in relief in the opener and hurled a four-hit complete-game victory in the second game.
The Pioneers (12-4) share the OAC lead with Ohio Northern and Muskingum.
MC broke an 8-8 tie with a six-run seventh to win the opener. Maggie Daubenmire, Katie Swejk, and Katie Woolf had RBI singles in the inning, Marissa McDaniel produced a run with a sacrifice fly, and Lisa Stobierski drove in another run with a sacrifice bunt.
Woolf banged out two singles and a double and drove in five runs in five at bats in a 15-hit Pioneer. Swejk connected for three singles in five at bats and had six singles in nine trips for the twinbill. Ashley Eberhardt singled and doubled and drove in two runs.
Swejk leads MC hitting with a .431 average. Daubenmire is batting .385 and Woolf .381. Woolf leads in RBIs with 14.
Cory Sheets had three hits, including a double, and Julianne Minnich slammed a three-run homer for Wilmington (5-7) in a 11-hit offense.
Fact Box
Marietta 14, Wilmington 8
Marietta 240 002 6 - 14-15-0
Wilmington 310 004 0 - 8-11-3
TOP HITTERS: Marietta - Katie Swejk 3-5, RBI; Katie Woolf 3-5, 2B, 5 RBIs; Maggie Daubenmire 2-3, 2 RBIs; Ashley Eberhardt 2-5, 2B, 2 RBIs. Wilmington - Cory Sheets 3-5, 2B; Holly Sheets 1-3, 2B, 3 RBIs; Julianne Minnnich 1-3, HR, 3 RBIs; Kelsey Becker 2-3.
PITCHING: Marietta - Amanda Strong 5.2ip, 9h, 8r, 8er, 4w, 3so; Chelsea Chaffin (W, 4-3) 1.1ip, 2h, 0r, 0er, 1w, 1so. Wilmington - Kylie Ford 0ip, 1h, 1r, 1er, 0w, 0so; Sara Emerich 5.1ip, 8h, 7r, 5er, 2w, 3so; Chloe Hedges (L, 2-3) 1.2ip, 6h, 6r, 5er, 1w, 1so.
Marietta 3, Wilmington 1
Marietta 010 020 0 - 3-8-1
Wilmington 010 000 0 - 1-4-1
TOP HITERS: Marietta - Katie Swejk 3-4; Marissa McDaniel 1-3, 2B, RBI. Wilmington - Holly Sheets 2-3.
PITCHING: Marietta - Chelsea Chaffin (W, 5-3) 7ip, 4h, 1r, 0er, 3w, 3so. Wilmington - Kylie Ford (L, 3-3) 8h, 3r, 3er, 1w, 4so.
Chaffin (5-3 with a team-best 1.74 ERA) relieved starter Amanda Strong with two out in the sixth to end a four-run Quaker rally and then pitched a scoreless seventh for the win after the first two batters reached base.
Marietta broke a 1-1 tie in the second game with two runs in the fifth inning and bunts were huge. Daubenmire and Swejk opened the inning with bunt hits. Maureen Kertes' sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third, Woolf's sacrifice fly scored Daubenmire with the tiereaker, and Cassady Busellato's hit scored Swejk.
MC's first run came in the second inning on a double by McDaniel to score Eberhardt who had walked.
Chaffin didn't allow an earned run and stranded seven runners.
The Pioneers had eight hits in the second game, including three singles by Swejk, and they had only one fielding error for the twinbill.
The Pioneers play a 3:30 OAC doubleheade Friday at Baldwin-Wallace (7-4, 1-1). The Yellow Jackets lost 4-3 in the first game of a doubleheader at nationally 13th-ranked Capital but won the nightcap 8-2.
