Joe Scott | Orbit Media Sports Director
While many Muskies were having fun on the beach or relaxing during spring break, the Muskingum Baseball and Softball teams went to Florida to start their new seasons.
The Muskingum Softball team is off to their best start since the 1998 season, finishing 11-1 during the D9 Sunkissed Games in Kissimmee.
The Lady Muskies started the season with a 8-7 win against Misericordia March 4 and then dominated Saint Joseph’s 15-2 in the second game. Senior Melissa Maiorano went 3-for-4 with two RBIs in game one and freshman Karsyn Shaffer went 5-for-5 in her college softball debut. Junior Rachel Eberling got her first win of the season on the mound pitching a complete game with four strikeouts.
In the second game, the Lady Muskies scored 15 runs on 19 hits. Freshman Hannah Duff saw four innings with a strikeout and senior Haylea Debolt pitched one inning with three strikeouts.
The Lady Muskies picked up two more wins March 5 with an 11-3 win against Widener and a 13-4 victory against Penn St.-Berks. They followed with March 6 wins against Alfred winning 3-0 and against Westminster, Pennsylvania winning 6-2.
They defeated Simmons 3-2 and Aurora 7-2 March 8 continuing their hot streak. Their 7-0 win over Bridgewater, Virginia was their tenth straight win. They later won over Defiance 10-8, marking the first time since 1998 they won 10 straight games. They picked up a 12-1 win against Wheaton, Massachusetts Saturday, March 10, later going on to lose to Rowan 6-0.
Many players stood out for their great play throughout the week. Senior Haylea Debolt led the team with 19 RBIs on 14 hits. Junior Rachel Eberling had 14 hits with 13 RBIs and four wins on the mound.
Freshman Karsyn Shaffer led the team with 30 total hits and eight RBIs. Freshman pitcher Hannah Duff notched six wins and junior Krissy Hughes had 21 hits and 11 RBIs. Hughes was impressed by her team’s performance.
“We didn’t expect to come out hot as we did,” said Hughes, “we had great leadership coming from the juniors and seniors and our offense and defense were 100% the whole week.” Hughes said the freshmen stepped up in Florida and did their job. She is exited for what the future holds for the team.
Muskingum Softball players Melissa Maiorano, Haylea Debolt, and Krissy Hughes recap the Florida games during the March 13 Muskie Sports Blast.
While the softball team was off to a stood start in Florida, the baseball team was getting their new season underway going 4-5 in Fort Pierce.
The Muskies got the new season underway March 4 with a doubleheader against Immaculata, winning the first game 7-1 and losing the second 7-5. Junior Evan Hinds got the first win of the year on the mound.
The Muskies lost a March 5 game to Elizabethtown 20-11, additionally falling to Lebanon Valley 6-2 March 6. They fell in a March 7 exciting four-hour, 10-inning game to LaRoche 17-16.
The Muskies notched a win March 8 defeating Bridgewater St. 11-3. Sophomore Josh Bigrigg received his first win of the season on the mound. The Muskies swept Delaware Valley 10-5 and 1-0 on March 9 with Hinds and freshman Ryan Hernandez picking up the wins. The team finished their Florida trip March 10 with a tough loss to Dominican 3-0.
Junior Marc Ibarra led the team in total hits with 16 while having five RBIs. Senior Eddie Harper had 13 hits and led the team with 11 RBIs. Freshman Matt Stewart had a solid start to his college career with 14 hits and 10 RBIs and junior Michael Pagano notched 11 hits with 4 RBIs.
On the mound Hinds got two wins to start the season. Freshman Nolan Fernandes suffered two losses in his first two college starts, while Bigrigg and freshman Ryan Hernandez each picked up one win and one loss.
Junior Michael Pagano said the work in Florida should help the team in the future.
“It should help us because it shows that we need to get better,” said Pagano. “We lost a lot of games based on mistakes alone, so if we can shore that up we can be a real good team because we showed a lot of potential in all aspects of the game.”
Both teams showed great promise and good starts to get the new seasons underway. With talented freshmen and upperclassmen leading the way for the both teams there is great optimism for success for the upcoming 2018 season.
Follow Muskingum Spring Sports action on WMCO 90.7.
