Marchant Ties FSU Career Hit Record as Softball Defeats North Park and Northwestern (Minn.)
Minneola, Fla. – Senior Dayna Marchant (East Bridgewater, Mass.) recorded five hits tying the Framingham State softball career hit mark as the Rams swept a pair of games with North Park and Northwestern (Minn.). The Rams defeated North Park 7-5 before walking off with a 2-1 victory over Northwestern.
With the win, the Rams are now 2-4 on the season, while North Park moves to 1-4 and Northwestern (Minn.) is now 6-6.
Marchant recorded three hits in the opener against North Park and added two more against Northwestern, to reach 160 career hits. She ties the mark held by former Ram standout Colleen Clancy who played from 2006-2009.
In the opener against North Park, Marchant went three-for-five with a double, two runs scored and three RBI, while sophomore Mycala Moody (North Attleboro, Mass.) also went three-for-five with two RBI. Freshman Camille Desrochers (Westford, Mass.), sophomore Kirsten Dick (Tewksbury, Mass.) and junior Lauren Salisbury (Cranston, RI) recorded two hits apiece.
The Rams got on the board first with single runs in the top of first and second innings. In the first, junior Kayla Finacchiaro (Natick, Mass.) reached on a fielder's choice scoring Marchant who singled to lead off the game. In the second, Moody singled in Dick who led off the inning with a base hit.
The Vikings came back to take the lead in the bottom of the second inning with three runs.
The Rams retook the lead with three runs in the top of sixth inning. Marchant singled in a pair of runners and Finacchiaro added her second RBI of the day on a single scoring Marchant putting the Rams up 5-3.
North Park closed the game with a run in the bottom of the sixth, but the Rams added two more in the top of the seventh to extend the lead to 7-4. The Vikings added a single run in the bottom of the seventh to reach the final score.
Freshman Claire DeLuca (Trumbull, Conn.) started in the circle for the Rams and did not factor in the decision. DeLuca went 1.2 innings and allowed three earned runs on six hits with a walk. Classmate Grace Caughey (Mendon, Mass.) earned the victory tossing four innings of relief. Caughey allowed one unearned run on six hits with four walks. Junior Kelsi Gunarathne (Providence, RI) earned her first save of the year going an inning and a third and allowing just one unearned run on one hit with three strikeouts.
After earning the save in the opener, Gunarathne came back to earn the win over Northwestern (Minn.) in game two. Gunarathne went seven innings allowing just one unearned run on three hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
Senior Anna Dziok (Southampton, Mass.) and classmate Bridget McGrail (Worcester, Mass.) each went two-for-three in game two, while Marchant went two-for-four with two runs scored.
Northwestern grabbed a 1-0 with an unearned run in the top of the first, but the Rams came back and tied the game in the bottom of the frame. Marchant singled to lead off the inning and was sacrificed over to second by Moody. Marchant advanced to third on a foul out and came around to score on a double by Dziok.
The game would remain deadlocked at 1-1 until the bottom of the seventh. Marchant delivered a one out single to left center and was moved to third on a ground out by Moody. Senior Megan Downing (Hanson, Mass.) followed with a walk-off RBI single scoring Marchant to give the Rams the 2-1 victory.
The Rams are idle tomorrow but are back in action Thursday with a pair of games at the PFX Games.