Photo by Jake Przytarski Marshall’s Ashleigh Steinbach fires a pitch during their game against Waseca on Saturday. Marshall defeated Waseca 16-1 in Game 1 and 24-5 in Game 2.

MARSHALL — After opening the season with a lopsided defeat on the road this past week in Mankato, the Marshall softball team managed to shrug off the loss to the Scarlets and flipped the script in Saturday’s doubleheader with a pair of dominant wins of their own in a twinbill sweep on their home field over Waseca.

Both contests on Saturday required just four innings for the Tigers to come out on top with the 15-run rule going into effect in a 16-1 final for game one, and a 24-5 final in the finale to move Marshall to a 2-1 record on the season.

Marshall coach Jack Houseman came away pleased not only with the work of the team offensively to reach eclipse 15 runs in both games, but the efficient performances in the circle from the team’s three pitchers in Ashleigh Steinbach, Kayla Polejewski and Olivia Houseman.

“Our pitchers got us in a good spot there. Ashleigh started us off and got us in the dugout, so we could get our bats going there so that was good. Kayla did the same thing the second game and got us in and got us going there so that was great,” said coach Houseman. “Then our bats (got going). Everybody stayed back and drove the ball really well I thought.”

Game one:

Marshall 16, Waseca 1

Steinbach got the start at pitcher in game one of the doubleheader and set the tone for the Tigers in the top half of the first with an efficient one-two-three inning that featured her first of two strikeouts. Steinbach remained in the circle for two more innings, surrendering just one run in the top half of the third on a bases-loaded walk. Olivia Houseman took over for the Tigers to begin the fourth frame where she went on to deliver the final three outs and seal the win.

At the plate, the Tigers showed a great deal of poise and made the Bluejays pay for their lack of control early on in the game with six walks in the first two innings alone. Pitches that did find the strike zone were pummeled off the bat of leading hitters Regan Loft (2-3, 2B, RBI), Abby Wendorff (3-3, 2B, 3 RBIs), Lexi Bednarek (2-2, 2B, RBI), Randi Wendorff (1-2, 2B, RBI) and Polejewski (2-3, 2B, 2RBIs) who combined for five extra-base hits in the win. The offensive surge helped the Tigers post crooked numbers in the first three innings and put the game all but out of reach at 15-1. The game came to an end in the fourth inning with a 16-1 score after Leah Schaefer led off with a double and later scored on an errant throw.

Game two:

Marshall 24, Waseca 5

As the visiting team in game two, the Tigers were the first to take the plate and picked up right where they left off in game one with another dynamic offensive showing that culminated in 20 hits and 24 runs scored. The Tigers’ 24 runs are the most runs generated by Marshall since the second game of the 2017 season when the team defeated Waseca 25-3 in the final game of a doubleheader.

Leadoff hitter Bednarek (4-4, 2B, 3B, RBI) was the first baserunner to come across home plate after reaching with a double and later sent home on a sacrifice fly by Steinbach (4-5, 2B, 3B, 3 RBIs). Marshall would be held to just the one run in the first inning before the floodgates opened to begin the second, third and fourth innings.

The onslaught began with a leadoff walk from Randi Wendorff (2-2, 3B, 4 RBIs) and picked up steam with run-scoring hits by Polejewski (3-3, 2B, 2 RBIs), Bednarek, Abby Wendorff (2-3, 3B, RBI), and Randi Wendorff who made her second appeareance at the plate in the marathon seven-run inning.

After being held to just one run in the previous contest, the Bluejays scored two of their five total runs in the latter half of the second inning with Polejewski in the circle for the Tigers. Waseca added three more runs in the third inning–but it was not enough to catch Marshall as the offense continued to wreak havoc at the plate.

The Tigers would put the game away for good in their third appearance at the plate that ended with six more runs scored on hits from Bednarek, Steinbach (4-5, 3B, 3 RBIs) and Shelby Hauser (1-1, 2B, 2 RBIs). Marshall later added 10 runs in the fourth inning to put an exclamation point on a dominant effort. Houseman collected the final three outs in the circle for the Tigers.

Next up for Marshall (2-1) will be a 5:30 p.m. matchup on the road against conference-rival New Ulm. Coach Houseman hopes the team can carry over some of its confidence into Thursday’s meeting against the Eagles.

“We’ve got to be ready to hit the ball. They’ll challenge our bats with their pitching and so we’ll have to be ready for that and continue to stay positive and confident,” said coach Houseman. “I think the girls are playing that way right now so we’re hoping to continue that.”