When you’re going against a Division I pitcher, those kinds can be amplified.

That was the case on Tuesday, as McDowell’s Rachel Marsden, a St. Francis signee, shut down the potent Warren softball lineup as the Lady Trojans came away with a 6-1 win at Legion Field.

To make matters worse for the Lady Dragons, Marsden also broke the game open with her bat via a 2-out, 3-run home run in the second inning.

“She’s obviously good,” said Warren coach Jon Sitler. “I thought we would put the bat on the ball more than we did. I think a month from now the game’s a little different, but that’s a good team. We have to come with our A game and we didn’t.”

Warren right fielder Kelsey Stuart squeezes a fly ball during the fifth inning.

On a brisk day, Warren’s defense was shaky, committing an uncharacteristic five errors. Of the six runs starting pitcher Ellie Lobdell gave up, only one was earned.

Lobdell retired the first two hitters of the game, but Marsden reached via errors, Kira Hillhouse, Lobdell’s future teammate at Cal, singled, and Erika Enzbrenner, who had three of McDowell’s nine hits, singled in Marsden.

Marsden’s home run in the second inning also came after the Lady Dragons committed an error, allowing the inning to continue.

Trailing 5-0 and without a hit going into the bottom of the fourth, Lex Nyquist ripped a single to center to start the inning. She advanced to second via a perfect sacrifice bunt from Julia Lobdell and went to third on Celia Chase’s fly out to right that may have cleared the fence on a warmer day when the ball carries.

Marsden threw a pitch wide of the mark with Kiersten Hoffman at-bat and Nyquist raced home.

Warren’s Gracie Wood gets set to break from second base during the fifth inning of Tuesday’s game.

That was all Marsden gave up, however. Nyquist’s hit in the fourth was the only knock off the game of the senior hurler, who struck out 11.

Ellie Lobdell struck out six.

“She’s capable of hitting her spots better than she did today,” Sitler said. “You’re going to see a different Ellie Lobdell moving forward.”

It was a disappointing start to the season for a team with lofty goals, but they know it’s just one game.

They’ll look to get on track on Thursday when they travel to take on Meadville, weather permitting.

McDowell's Rachel Marsden follow through on her swing that sent the ball over the fence for a 3-run home run.

Warren won the JV game, 6-0, as Kelsey Stuart struck out 14 and allowed just one hit. Elle Irwin belted a triple, while Katie Maidgan and Stuart had two hits each. Madigan, Cara Munksgard, Alix Lytle and Halee Mineweaser all had RBIs,

“They will step up and take ownership,” Sitler said. “One game will not define them. McDowell is a very good team, and these are the kinds of teams that we want to play.”

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MCDOWELL (6)

(ab-r-hi-rbi) Rougeux c 5-1-1-0, Kruszewski rf 5-2-1-0, Marsden p 3-2-1-3, Hillhouse ss 3-0-1-0, Enzbrenner 1b 4-0-3-2, Renwick 3b 4-0-0-0, Bechtold lf 4-1-1-0, Irwin cf 3-0-0-0, Helsley 2b 3-0-1-1, Totals 34-6-9-6

WARREN (1)

Nyquist ss 3-1-1-0, J. Lobdell 2b 2-0-0-0, Chase 1b 3-0-0-0, Hoffman 3b 3-0-0-0, E. Lobdell p 3-0-0-0, Wood cf 1-0-0-0, Stuart rf 2-0-0-0, Wortman c 2-0-0-0, Munksgard dp 2-0-0-0, Madigan lf-flex 0-0-0-0, Totals 23-1-1-0

McDowell 140 001 0 – 6 9 0

Warren 000 100 0 – 1 1 5

2B – Enzbrenner (M). HR – Marsden (M). SB – Bechtold (M). SAC – J. Lobdell (W)

IP H R ER BB SO

McDowell

Marsden (W, 1-0) 7 1 1 1 1 11

Warren

E. Lobdell (L, 0-1) 7 9 6 1 2 6