FOND DU LAC, Wis. - The Marian University softball (14-4, 2-2 NACC) pitching staff only allowed five hits on the day as the Sabres swept Rockford 8-0 in a pair of NACC home games.

The Sabres didn't wait around to get on the board to open the day scoring four runs in the first three innings to open game one.  Sophomore Olivia Hartley opened the scoring with a two RBI single to right field in the bottom of the first to plate freshman Gianna Esposito and fellow sophomore Lindsey Strainis.

Strainis then singled to drive home freshman Ally Fox in the second and senior Nicole LaBeck doubled to bring in Hartley and put Marian up 4-0.

Rockford nearly got on the board in the top of the third but a laser from senior Charlotte Pegram gunned down the Rockford runner at the dish to keep the Regents scoreless.

It wasn't until the top of the sixth that the Sabres scored again when Strainis brought in senior Tiffani Castillo with a bases loaded single and a bases clearing triple from freshman Gianni Esposito induced the 8-0 mercy rule win.

Senior Shannon Huray (7-4) held Rockford scoreless only allowing two hits with one strikeout in the win.  Five different Sabres had multi-hit games with the top three spots in the Sabre lineup going 8-12 in the win.  Strainis finished 3-4 with a pair of RBIs and a pair of runs scored, while Esposito went 3-4 with three RBIs and a run scored to lead the offensive explosion.

The Marian offense once again provided consistent offense to open game two with seven runs in the first four innings.

A sacrifice fly from senior Sara Terrian opened the scoring in the first to score Fox with a double from sophomore Rachel Soch scored Pegram to put Marian up 2-0 after two.

Then in the third, Hartley would single to bring in Esposito and Pegram followed that up with a two-out single to bring in Terrian.  A Terrian double in the fourth then brought in a pair of Sabres and a couple batters later freshman Taylor Lauscher lined a sacrifice into center field to bring in Terrian.

Marian would once again close out the game in the sixth inning with a double from Pegram that scored Lauscher and fellow freshman Haley Polakowski.

Freshman Paige Rauhut (6-0) had another good game in the circle only allowing one hit over 5.0 innings with six punch outs.

Fox and Pegram each recorded three hits in the win with Fox going 3-3 with two runs scored and Pegram finishing 3-3 with a run scored and two runs batted in.  Terrian also had a good game going 2-2 with a two runs scored and three runs batted in.

Marian next travels to UW-Oshkosh Wednesday, April 5 for a 3 p.m. non-conference twin bill.

--FightBlueFight--