POUGHKEEPSIE, NY - Taking on the top-seeded and regular season Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) champion Marist Red Foxes, Siena Softball fell in its second winner's bracket contest of the 2025 MAAC Tournament Thursday afternoon, 2-0, from softball park on the campus of Marist University.
Siena will take on the winner of No. 2 Fairfield and No. 3 Iona - who are scheduled to play at 4:20 p.m. Thursday - in an elimination game at 12:30 p.m. Friday
Gianna DiMeglio and
McKenzie Swinson accounted for Siena's two hits in the game.
Alissa Eimont went all six innings in a well-pitched game, allowing two runs on four scattered hits. She also struck out four Red Foxes to just one walk issued, as well as one hit batter.
2024 MAAC Championships MVP Eimont and First Team All-MAAC pitcher Kiley Myers went toe-to-toe in the circle through the opening portions of the game. DiMeglio chalked the first hit of the day in the top of the second on a blooper to right field, while the Red Foxes didn't get theirs until opening the bottom of the third on a bunt single.
Ronni Howard - who opened the third with the bunt single - advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt, while Peyton Pusey worked a one-out walk to set Marist up with two on and one away. A force play at second gave the Saints their second out in the inning, but the next batter - Haley Ahr - hit a comebacker up the middle that redirected off Eimont's glove and to DiMeglio at second, and beat it out to bring in the runner from third. After replay review, the call stood to hand Marist a 1-0 lead moving into the 4th.
The Saints had their first scoring opportunity in the top of the fifth inning when
Carlie Venables reached on a throwing error by Howard at third with two outs, and advanced to second base. However, she was left stranded there to end the Saints' half of the inning.
After a clean fifth from Eimont, Swinson opened the sixth with a leadoff single into right field - the team's first hit since the second - but the next three Saints were retired in order.
Marist added an insurance run to leadoff the bottom of the sixth on a solo home run off the bat of Ahr to take a 2-0 lead into the seventh, while Siena went down in order to end the game.
