Marino Extends Strikeout Record, Huskies Cruise to Easy Win

The Harrison varsity softball team scored five times in the second inning and rode another dominant pitching performance from Ashley Marino to a 9 - 0 victory over Pelham Tuesday in Harrison.

Marino struck out ten betters in the game, enough to reach 400 strikeouts during her Harrison career. The senior broke the school record for career strikeouts last week against Rye Neck.

"She's been on the varsity since eighth grade, so that extra year sort of boosted her," said Harrison Head Coach Dean Marino. "But last year she really exploded, she's now a strikeout pitcher."

After working out of a jam in the first inning, Ashley Marino buckled down, getting out of the inning and going on to throw six innings up shutout softball. It would turn out to be the best scoring chance Pelham would have for the rest of the afternoon.

"We had a runner on second, no outs in the first inning," said Pelham Head Coach Keith Maley. "Momentum with high school sports is huge and we didn't do anything with it."

Instead, Harrison took control in the second inning. After back-to-back doubles by Jenna Webb and Gigi L0Dolce, Harrison batted around jumping out to a 5 - 0 lead.

The Huskies added another three in runs in the third inning when Jessica Magnotta knocked in two runs with a triple to right-center field and later scored.

"We're hitting the ball, we've got a very good offensive team," said Dean Marino. "We got the whole team back, and most of them are sophomores and juniors."

Among the many offensive stars for Harrison was , who finished the game with four hits.

"We're going to hit the ball hard," said Dean Marino. "You throw the ball over the plate, we're going to hit the ball hard."

Although the Huskies rallied early, Pelham starting pitcher Kelly Keith settled down toward the end of the game. Keith shut down the Huskies during the fourth and fifth innings before yielding the final run of the game in the sixth. 

"I thought she actually pitched a pretty good game and we didn't get to some balls I think we could have," said Maley. "I wasn't happy with our intensity in the field, I thought our pitcher deserved better."

But the effort on the defensive side wouldn't matter for Pelham, who was unable to sustain any type of rally against Ashley Marino. Breanne Arlotta closed out the 9 - 0 Harrison victory with a perfect seventh inning.

"When it's all said and done, Ashley's going to be an all-state pitcher this year," said Maley. "So you're not expecting to score ten runs against her and you have to go with your opportunity."