Marquette Tops Lady Eagles In Extra Innings

Marquette scored four runs in the eighth inning on Monday, then faced down a Sullivan rally to hang on for a 5-4 victory.

The Lady Eagles (16-9) brought the winning run to the plate with two outs, but Natalie Cox fanned Alexis Johnson after she fouled off five pitches.

Sullivan committed a costly error in the eighth, allowing Marquette to score the go-ahead run.

The bottom half of Sullivan’s lineup chipped in on a night where the top half was relatively quiet.

Alexis Funkhouser singled three times, while Alyssa Sharp’s RBI double in the fifth broke open the scoring.

Madyson Stahl and Sophia Weirich had Sullivan’s only other hits.

Marquette’s Madison Carney overpowered the Lady Eagles in her three innings of work, striking out seven and allowing one walk.

Sullivan threatened against Cox in the fourth when Hanna Johanning and Sophia Weirich drew walks, but Jaedin Blankenship bunted into a double play to end the inning. 

Funkhouser had the first of her three hits when she led off the fifth with a single to left. Johnson dropped down a bunt to advance her to second.

Sharp drilled an 0-1 pitch to center that scored Funkhouser and put the Lady Eagles on top. 

Marquette tied the game in the sixth on Jessica Willsey’s leadoff single and stolen base. She advanced to third on a sacrifice by Cox. Mackenzie Gieseler drove a sacrifice fly to right that scored Willsey.

Sullivan had an opportunity to walk the Mustangs off in the seventh. Funkhouser hit a leadoff single, went to second on a sac bunt and reached third when Hannah Campbell grounded out. Funkhouser was left stranded on a fly out by Riley Branson.

The Mustangs took advantage.

A leadoff single by Noelle Politte, a sac bunt by Sophia Dunn and a wild pitched moved the go-ahead run up to third. Johanning walked Willsey to put runners at the corners, then Cox reached on an error to give Marquette a 2-1 lead. 

Two batters later, Brooke Branstetter shot a two-run triple to right, making it 4-1.

Branstetter scored on a passed ball two pitches later.

Johanning would escape further damage. She ended the night throwing 142 pitches. 

The senior allowed four hits, five runs (one earned) and she struck out nine against five walks.

Kayla Ulrich and Stahl tried to help the Lady Eagles make up the difference. Ulrich was hit by a pitch to lead off the eighth and Stahl poked a single back to Cox. Johanning grounded into a 1-5 fielder’s choice, with Ulrich forced out at third. 

Weirich drove a line drive single to center, easily scoring Stahl and moving Johanning up to third. 

The Lady Eagles kept chipping away as Blankenship hit an RBI groundout and Funkhouser lofted a two-out RBI single to right, making it 5-4.

Cox put away Johnson to help Marquette escape with the victory.