Junior Mary Fortner already has two varsity seasons under her belt as both a hitter and utility infielder for Marist.

But before the Northwestern recruit ever drove in a run or fielded a ball for the RedHawks, she made a big impact on the softball program.

It happened in seventh grade when Fortner met Lexi Kyros . The two played travel sports together in both basketball and softball and became fast friends.

Fortner’s father, P. Jay , is a teacher at Marist. Her brothers, Joey and Michael , were student/athletes there. But Mary made a pretty convincing high school recruiter.

“I really wanted Lexi to come here,” Fortner said. “I started talking up Marist. I told her about how I had seen firsthand how amazing the community was. How top notch the softball program was.

“She was i

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