MILLERSVILLE, Pa. – Alex Schaefer again stole the show on a chilly Friday afternoon, authoring her second complete game shutout in a week and setting a school record in punchouts to down the visiting Mountaineers. Schaefer set down 17 Mounties via strikeout in game one, the most in a single game in Millersville softball history.  They won that game 2-0 before demolishing the guests 11-0 in game two.

GAME ONE:
Schaefer worked through the first three innings of her start with little trouble. She came out firing, getting the first six outs via strikeout and eight of the first nine, putting her on record-setting pace. 
 
Millersville's bats were equally as stymied until the bottom of the third inning. Marli Schreiner led off the inning with a line drive into left field and Victoria Fuss followed that up with a walk to turn the lineup over. Kendra Bumgardner stepped up to the plate next and executed a perfect sacrifice bunt to put two runners in scoring position for the white-hot Aleese Angelo. Ahead in the count 3-0, she poked a pitch down the right field line to bring both runners home. That was part of a two for three effort in game one. 
 
Meanwhile, Schaefer hummed along from there. She struck out the side in the fifth inning to reach 13 punchouts on the afternoon, one short of her career best of 14. The program's all-time leader topped that mark in the next frame with an inning ending strikeout. Schaefer's 17 fanned batters is the most in school history, besting the previous record of 15 set four separate times in 2002. It's also the most strikeouts in a single game by any pitcher in the PSAC so far this season. She scattered four hits across her seven innings of work to secure her third complete game shutout of 2024 and the 2-0 victory. 

GAME TWO:
The Marauders threatened in the first with two hits but failed to score. They got on the board in the bottom of the second inning with a little small ball before exploding for nine runs in the third. That big inning was started by Angelo, who ripped a double past the right fielder. Gabi Turner followed that up with a single off of the pitcher to put two on for Gabby D'Ottavio, who grounded one up the middle to bring Angelo home. Carly Vaughan's bases-loaded single a few batters later put the Marauders up 4-0, but the onslaught was far from over. The next two batters also singled to bring the advantage to six. 
 
Turner came up again later in the inning with the bases loaded and two outs and delivered once more. Her double scored two more runs and put the hosts up 9-0. D'Ottavio followed with another two-bagger that brought two more runs home and that's where the scoring frenzy came to a close. In total, the Marauders tallied nine hits and sent 15 batters to the plate.
 
In the field, Morgan Crutcher got the start and was equally as effective as Schaefer, cruising through four scoreless innings. She let up just two hits, both to the same batter, while striking out three. Nicolina Pezzone entered in relief in the fifth inning and struck out two of the three hitters she faced to close out the 11-0 win. 
 
GAME NOTES

• The Marauders' record against the Mountaineers improves to 49-53 after the two victories. They've won each of the last eight meetings dating back to 2021. 
• Schaefer's strikeout total breaks her previous record set exactly a week ago against Bowie State. She fanned 14 Bulldogs on March 15 in another complete game shutout. She finished just one short of the all-time PSAC record of 18 strikeouts in a single game.
• Crutcher is nearing the 200 strikeout mark for her career. With her three punchouts today, she's at 194 total. 

POSTGAME REACTION FROM HEAD COACH JEN PROBST

• On the pitching staff's dominance: "Our pitchers did an excellent job of sticking to the plan and hitting their spots. We had some pretty good pitch sequences already planned beforehand and they executed them really well."
• On Schaefer's excellence: ​​"Alex was really bringing it today, which doesn't give you a lot of time to decide on that rise ball." For her to be able to mix that with some lower pitches, it just kept the hitters' eyes all over the place and didn't give them a lot of time to decide. She also did an excellent job of getting ahead; she was ahead in the count on almost every batter."
• On the big inning in game two:  "We've been talking a lot about how we can come out in game two with some fire like it is the first game of the day. So we did some things differently in between the two games, and it showed. They came out and it looked like game one energy and execution. I think that really allowed us to pass the bat and get everyone involved. It was really great to see people coming in and contributing."

UP NEXT

• The Marauders host No. 13 East Stroudsburg for a conference clash on March 26 beginning at 2 p.m.