Game One vs. Marist Box Score | Game Two vs. Marist Box Score

POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - The Niagara softball team (9-26, 2-6 MAAC) dropped both games of a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference doubleheader to the Marist Red Foxes (22-19, 6-2 MAAC) on Saturday afternoon.

"I thought that we worked hard and stayed focused after a tough first game," head coach Al Dirschberger said. "We need to be ready for our games next week, as they will only get more important."

Marist 10, Niagara 2
After Marist took a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the Purple Eagles would tie the game in the third inning. Sophomore Brittany Richberg made it to first base via an error and was pushed over to second base via a sacrifice by sophomore Jessica Hitchcock. 

Junior Becky Zill hit a single and advanced to second base, scoring Richberg to make it a 2-1 game, while a single by senior Jennifer Hare scored Zill to tie the game.

The Red Foxes would score the final eight runs of the contest, including five runs in the sixth inning to finish the game. 

Zill finished game one with two hits, her team-leading seventh two-hit game of the season.

Marist 6, Niagara 5
Like in game one, Marist jumped out to a 2-0 lead, by scoring a run in the second inning and the third inning. 

Marist's two-run lead wouldn't last long, as the Purple Eagles knotted the game at two in the top of the fourth inning. Zill led off the inning with a walk, only to come around to score one batter later, when Hare launched her first home run of the season over the right field wall. 

Niagara would take a 3-2 lead an inning later, beginning with a lead-off walk to Zill. Hare would hit a single, putting runners on first base and second base for junior Alexis Wayne. Wayne would smack the ball to center field, scoring Zill for the one-run lead.

The one-run Niagara lead would be short-lived, as in the bottom of the fifth inning, a bases loaded single by Alyssa Zahka off of starting pitcher Kim Bryson would give the Red Foxes a 4-3 lead. The Purple Eagles would tie the game in the top of the 6th inning, with Hare reaching base on error, scoring freshman Katelyn Gruarin.

Marist would take the lead for good in the bottom of the sixth inning on back-to-back sacrifice plays, giving the Red Foxes a 6-4 lead. Niagara would come within one run in the top of the seventh inning, when junior Gabrielle Lustrinelli reached first base via error, scoring freshman Ambur Farmer. 

Wayne and Hare finished game two with two hits each.

Niagara is back in action on Wednesday, when it hosts Little Three rival St. Bonaventure in a non-conference doubleheader, beginning at 3 p.m.