OWINGS MILLS, Md. – The Stevenson University softball team opened its 2025 slate in wild fashion on Friday, scoring seven runs over the last two innings in a 14-13 win over Notre Dame of Maryland in Game 1 of a doubleheader at Owings Mills East.
Game two was halted due to darkness with the Mustangs leading 4-1 after four innings.
Game one was a see-saw affair as Stevenson led 6-0 after two innings before the Gators (0-1) scored seven times in the fourth to take a 7-6 lead. After Stevenson tied the score at 7-7 in the bottom of the fifth, Notre Dame plated four in the top of the sixth for an 11-7 lead.
Stevenson again would battle back to get within one at 11-10, before Notre Dame took a 13-10 lead in the top of the seventh.
Caylee Cliett's bases-clearing triple in the bottom of the seventh won the game for the Mustangs in a walkoff, the last of 20 hits on the afternoon.
Ava Stafursky was 4-for-4 with two runs scored, while McKenzie Tobler and Mykaela Getz each getting three hits. Rebecca Maiorano, Tessa Boswell, Cliett and Danielle Mills also had two hits each. Rebecca Henry got her 100th career hit, with a single in the seventh inning.
Lilly Tinker got the win in relief, striking out one in 1.1 innings of work. Alexis Kirkessner went 3.2 innings, striking out three and walking three. All seven of her runs she allowed were unearned. Sahara Ward pitched two innings in rellef, striking out four and walking four. Of the 13 runs Stevenson, only two were earned.
Stevenson took a 1-0 lead in the first as Stafursky singled up the middle, scoring Tobler. In the second, Tobler drove in two as Boswell and Mills scored. Boswell would later walk in as Maiorano scored.
After Notre Dame scored seven in the fourth, Tobler singled home Mya Lamp in the fifth.
Down 11-8 in the sixth, Cliett singled to right scoring Stafursky followed by a two-run double from Mills scoring Boswell and Henry. In the seventh, Henry singled to center scoring Maiorano before Cliett's triple to win the game.
Stevenson will head to Lancaster Bible next Tuesday.
