Marian Clinches 11th Crossroads League Regular Season Championship

INDIANAPOLIS - On Sunday April 27, the Marian softball team earned a pair of victories against Goshen College, with their 30th and 31st victories of the Crossroads League season moving Marian into first place in the regular season standings, crowning the Knights as Co-Champions. Marian's championship is their third consecutive and fourth in the last five years, as they embark on the postseason with a 41-7 overall record.

Entering the Friday afternoon, Marian trailed No. 12 Indiana Wesleyan by one game in the loss column, meaning the Knights would need help on Saturday as the Wildcats played Huntington University. Throughout the day on Friday, it was announced from Spring Arbor University that the Knights gained an additional win on the season, as an administrative error forced the Cougars to forfeit their March 14 victory of Marian. The win by forfeit moved Marian even in the loss column with the Wildcats, putting Marian back in the driver's seat to win the league outright.

During play on Saturday, both Marian and Indiana Wesleyan split their final road doubleheaders of the regular season, with the Knights going 1-1 against Saint Francis, while the Wildcats went 1-1 in their weekend games against Huntington. The split with Huntington for Indiana Wesleyan ended their conference record with a 31-5 overall mark.

The Knights finished their regular season on Sunday against Goshen College, making up a pair of games that were initially scheduled to be played on April 5, and again on April 25, but in both instances Mother Nature intervened. With clear skies on hand Sunday, Marian wasted little time getting on the board in game one, scoring twice in both the first and second innings. Goshen would slash into Marian's lead in the top of the fourth inning with a pair of runs against the Knights' ace Olivia Stunkel, but the senior would collect the final outs to pitch out of the inning. In the bottom frame of the fourth, Marian regained their offensive edge, scoring five runs to take a 9-2 lead. Hayley Greene and Grace Meyer were among the Knights to pick up RBI in the inning. Stunkel shut down the Maple Leafs in the top half of the fifth, and in the bottom half, Marian finished off a run-rule win as Abbey Hofmann walked off Goshen with a game-ending RBI single.

In the 10-2 win, the Knights saw Olivia Stunkel pitch a complete game, as the senior ended the regular season with an unblemished 23-0 record. Stunkel struck out six, and allowed one earned run with two total runs scoring in the five-inning victory. Marian had 11 hits as a team in game one, with Hayley Greene going a perfect 3-3 with two RBI, while Ally Malone and Mystic Means each had two base hits. 

The game one win put Marian one victory shy of tying Indiana Wesleyan in total conference victories, needing a game two victory to capture a share of their 11th championship in program history. Like game one, Marian scored immediately in their first trip to the plate, but in the second contest, the Knights delivered a five-spot in the bottom of the first, sparking the scoring with Lily Wendt's RBI double. Caroline Roop capped the five-run inning with a two-RBI single, ending the first inning with a 5-0 lead. Macy Coan had a stellar pitching performance in her start on Sunday, shutting out Goshen through three innings while facing the minimum in two of three innings. 

Goshen would break Coan's scoreless start in the top of the fourth inning as three base hits produced the Maple Leafs' first run of the game. The sophomore pitcher limited the scoring to one, as she regrouped with a pair of strikeouts to preserve a four-run lead for Marian. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Knights' bats produced three insurance runs, getting RBI hits from Grace Meyer and Jenna Minnix, while Ally Malone drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to ensure an 8-1 lead. Coan ended her outing with a four-batter sixth, preserving the seven-run advantage into the seventh inning. Alayna Tesnar would take over in the circle for her teammate in the final inning, allowing a pair of two-out hits before forcing the game-ending groundout, closing Marian's Crossroads League Championship with an 8-1 victory.

Marian had nine hits in the win, and were led by two-hit games from Anna Pritchett, Lily Wendt, and Jenna Minnix. Macy Coan pitched six innings and allowed seven hits, yielding one total run to collect the victory in the circle. 

The Knights and Wildcats were both named Crossroads League Co-Champions with the results of Sunday's wins for Marian, as both teams finish the regular season with 31-5 overall CL records. Marian's title is their 11th in program history, and the ninth championship in the regular season in the last 11 years and the last 10 seasons of Crossroads League softball. 

Saturday's results between Indiana Wesleyan and Huntington played an additional favor to the Knights, as Marian claimed the No. 1 seed for the upcoming Crossroads League Tournament Marian won the season tiebreaker over Wildcats in games against the No. 3 seed Huntington, as the Knights went 3-1 against the Foresters, while Indiana Wesleyan went 2-2, determining the final seeding tiebreaker.

The Crossroads League Tournament begins on Tuesday with the play-in games, and bracket play starts on Wednesday morning. All games of the Tournament will be played at Taylor, and Marian will play the winner between the four seed and one of the play-in opponents, with the contest slated for 3:00 p.m.