Marist Softball Wins 2016 MAAC Championship

May 18, 2016

Marist Red Foxes Jayne Oberdorf (center) was named the tournaments most valuable player.

POUGHKEEPSIE – The Marist softball team (45-11) won the 2016 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship on Saturday afternoon at Gartland Field. The top-seeded Red Foxes defeated fourth-seeded Monmouth 3-2 on Saturday on a walk-off infield single by Brittany Colombo in the seventh inning, which brought home Janna Korak with the winning run.

Marist opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning on a solo home run by freshman second baseman Claire Oberdorf. That was the Red Foxes’ only hit until the bottom of the fourth, when senior shortstop Kyrsten Van Natta homered to lead off the inning, which put Marist up 2-0.

Meanwhile, junior Jayne Oberdorf kept Monmouth (29-21) scoreless until the top of the sixth. With two outs, Monmouth first baseman Justene Reyes drew a walk. Catcher Jill Freese followed by hitting a 2-2 pitch over the wall in center field for a home run, which tied the score at two apiece.

Marist went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the sixth, as did Monmouth in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh, Korak led off by reaching on an infield single. Senior center fielder Colleen McWilliams then drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch, which moved Korak to second. After an infield pop-up, Colombo hit a hard ground ball off the glove of Monmouth third baseman Ashalynn Umiamaka, who made a diving attempt. As the ball trickled to Umiamaka’s left, head coach Joe Ausanio waved Korak around third. Korak slid in just under the tag to give the Red Foxes their third MAAC championship.
Both teams finished with five hits. Monmouth second baseman Nicole Wieczorek was the only player in the game with two hits.

Jayne Oberdorf (16-3) won her 15th consecutive decision, and pitched her sixth straight complete game. She struck out three and threw 57 of her 93 pitches for strikes. She was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

Four Red Foxes were named to the MAAC All-Championship Team: McWilliams, Van Natta, Claire Oberdorf, and sophomore designated player Gabrielle Kelliher.