MILLERSVILLE, Pa. — It was a successful home opener for the Millersville Marauders, who defeated the Chestnut Hill Griffins on both ends of their Wednesday afternoon twin bill by scores of 9–6 and 8–0.
Nicolina Pezzone tossed a complete-game shutout in the second game while
Cara Mazzucco and
Angelina Edwards led the offense with five hits apiece on the day.
Delaney Troxell fared well in her first home outing, tossing three innings in relief and struck out six batters while allowing just one hit. Troxell dazzled upon entering a 6–6 game in the fifth inning, striking out the side in succession. Pezzone one-upped her teammates' performance in game two, going the distance while striking out a career-high eight batters. Pezzone allowed just two hits over her five innings of work and head coach
Jen Probst commended their efforts postgame.
"Both of them did a great job of hitting spots and moving the ball around," Probst said postgame. "They were really working the rise ball well today, and that opened up the zone for us to be able to mix it up."
The bats were not to be outdone, and that was apparent early in game one. Millersville totaled 10 hits over the first three innings including five in a three-run second inning. Edwards had the biggest hit, a two-out two-RBI single that put the hosts up 5–1. A few fielding errors resulted in a five-run inning in the top of the third, but the Marauders answered right back with a run in the third before another Edwards double produced the go-ahead run in the sixth.
The onslaught continued in game two. Nine Marauders tallied a hit and five had at least two.
Carly Vaughan had two hits, two RBI, and a double, as did Edwards minus the double.
Ellie Soucy stole the show, however, with a majestic home run to left centerfield that led off the second inning. Probst was proud of the team's offensive effort as well.
"I have, and I've told the team this, I have confidence in every single one of our hitters," Probst said postgame. "We've got 20 kids who can hit on this team, and all 20 of them can do damage, which is really exciting. To see us be able to go out there and execute small ball and steal bases was really exciting."
The 'Ville let the game come to them and played a lot of small ball in the second game, totaling five walks and seven steals. Mazzucco led the team with three; the Marauders had more than three steals as a team just once last season.
Millersville looks to build on this dominant performance in its next set of games, which are at Holy Family. They're scheduled for Friday, Feb. 28 at 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
