Rachel Marsden, a junior pitcher on the SFU softball team, made her debut in the sport at the age of 7.

It wasn’t until she was 12, however, that she started to develop a love for the game.

That love, combined with a fierce competitive spirit and a tireless work ethic, has allowed her to reach great heights in her sport.

“As a kid, I was very competitive and loved to win,” Marsden said.

She has done a lot of winning over the course of her softball career.

Through 26 games this season, Marsden currently leads the Red Flash softball team (15-11) in home runs (seven) and runs batted in (17). On the mound, she paces the team in wins (nine), earned-run-average (3.35), strikeouts (80) and complete games (11).

In her team’s most recent game – a 2-1 loss at Penn State on March 22 – the Management major from Erie, Pennsylvania, scattered five hits over four innings while striking out three in the one-run setback.

Success on the diamond is nothing new for Marsden. During her high school career at McDowell, she was a four-year team captain and struck out 554 batters. She owns seven single-season records at McDowell and was the recipient of the school’s scholar-athlete award.

After initially verbally committing to another school, Marsden got the news that SFU had hired Jessica O’Donnell as its softball coach. The Erie native immediately sent videos of her pitching and hitting to O’Donnell.

The fourth-year Red Flash head coach and former Villanova assistant liked what she saw on the videos, so much so that she sent an assistant coach to watch Marsden at a tournament. A scholarship offer to enroll at Saint Francis was extended to Marsden shortly thereafter.

Since the moment she arrived on campus, Marsden’s leadership and talents were obvious. She recorded 34 strikeouts in 46 innings during her freshman year in 2020. In her sophomore season last spring, she struck out 110 and posted an ERA of 1.62, earning first-team All-NEC honors while helping lead the Flash to a fourth straight conference championship.

Marsden started this season off with a pair of home runs during the team’s first tournament. Last weekend in SFU’s sweep of Long Island in its first NEC action of the season, Marsden posted wins in each game against the Sharks. At the plate, she belted two home runs in the second game of the doubleheader against LIU, a 13-4 SFU victory.