St. Charles, Mo. - The Maryville softball team swept a doubleheader from Quincy 9-2 and 6-1 as the Saints set a record for Great Lakes Valley Conference wins with 14 thus far on the season. The Saints up their mark to 26-6 overall, 14-4 in the league. The 14 conference wins also tie the program record with the 14 by the 1994 team in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Maryville got the bats going early as
Ashley Marks singled to open the game, and starting pitcher
Wendy Macias aided her own cause with an RBI single.
Casey Ward drove in a pair of Saints runners with a line drive single to centerfield as Maryville strung together three hits in the opening frame to take the early 3-0 lead.
After Quincy pushed across a two runs in the top of the second, the Saints answered right back. Marks tripled into the right field corner and scored on a
Krystal Rock fielder's choice to give Maryville 4-2 advantage.
Things would continue to go the Saints way in the fourth as
Courtney Ferguson began the inning with a stand up triple and, after Marks drew a walk, Rock drilled a single into centerfield to score both runners. Macias continued her hot day at the plate with another RBI single to give Maryville a 7-2 lead.
Maryville would bring across runs in both the fifth and sixth inning to help gain their 25th win on the year as Nikki Taylor came in to relief Macias in the fourth to claim her tenth victory.
Game two started off on even terms between the two clubs until the bottom of the third. Ferguson singled to right to begin the inning, then after moving over to second on a ground out, she scored on a Rock single to give the Saints an early 1-0 lead.
Maryville would then take advantage of a Hawks error and another single as Ferguson drilled a single past a diving second baseman to extend the Saints lead to 3-0. Ferguson scored on the Hawks third miscue of the inning to take a 4-0 lead after four innings.
After Quincy (12-18, 7-11 GLVC) scored a run in the top of the sixth, Maryville added some insurance as
Kelsey Martin scored from second on a Marks single. Marks came around and scored on a Rock sacrifice fly to center to give the Saints a 6-1 lead.
The Hawks loaded the bases in the top of the seventh, but Macias entered the game to lock things down and clinch the sweep for Maryville as Taylor earned her second win of the day and her eleventh victory of the season. Ferguson finished the game with a pair of hits as well as a pair of runs batted in.
Maryville returns to action on Tuesday afternoon as they travel to take on Blackburn College in a twin bill with the first game starting at 5 p.m.
