POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. – Sophomore Janine Lalli (Eastchester, N.Y.) hit her first career home run and senior Emily Osterhaus (Suwanee, Ga.) pitched a two-hitter as the third-seeded Marist softball team shutout fourth-seeded Niagara 2-0 on Friday to advance to the championship round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championships.

Osterhaus needed just 70 pitches, throwing 51 of those for strikes, in the complete game effort. She only walked one and struck out four. In four different innings she needed less than 10 pitches to retire the side, including three innings where she needed five or less.  

She was helped out by some stellar defense, especially on the left side of the infield from third-baseman Danielle Koltz (Chenango Bridge, N.Y.) and shortstop Kyrsten Van Natta (Maplewood, N.J.) who both made great plays on hard hit ground balls.

Marist was only able to scratch out four hits against MAAC Pitcher of the Year Jen Sansano, but two of the came in the fourth inning. With one out, Aly Klemmer (Hamilton, N.J.) just missed a home run of her own, putting a line drive off the top half of the left-centerfield fence for a double. Two batters later, Lalli fell down 1-2 before hitting a shot that hit the left field foul pole and just cleared the fence.

After the home run, Osterhaus mowed down the Niagara lineup the rest of the way. She needed just 37 pitches to get through the next four innings and only allowed one base runner.

Marist advances out of the winners' bracket into Saturday's championship round. The Red Foxes will next play Fairfield on Saturday at noon. The Stags defeated top-seeded Siena and fourth-seeded Niagara to advance out of the losers' bracket. The teams met in Thursday's first round, with Marist prevailing 3-1.

Notes – The senior class for Marist has now won 100 games in their four years… The Red Foxes are looking for their first MAAC Championship since 2006 when they went 3-0 in the MAAC Tournament to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Marist advanced to the championship round in 2007 and 2008, reaching the final day both years out of the loser's bracket after dropping the first game of the tournament.  

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