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PURCHASE, N.Y. – Fourth-seeded Eastern erupted for 11 runs in the sixth inning to break open a one-run game and send top-seeded Manhattanville to a tough 16-4 loss in game one of the 2012 Freedom Conference Softball Championships, hosted by Manhattanville at Manhattanville Field on Friday.
 
Eastern (21-19-1) advances into the winner's bracket of the tournament, and will take on the winner of the next game between second-seeded Misericordia and third-seeded King's later on this afternoon at approximately 4:00 p.m. Manhattanville (18-16) falls into the loser's bracket with the loss and will face the loser of Misericordia and King's tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.
 
In what was a close game for five innings, things came apart rapidly for Manhattanville in the top of the sixth, as the Eagles sent 14 players to the plate and 11 of them came around to score to make it a very lopsided final result.
 
Eight of those 11 runs were unearned due to a pair of Valiant errors in the frame, which allowed the visitors to cruise to the victory. Samantha Terenzoni started off the inning with a homer to take it 6-4 Eastern, and the frame was concluded by a two-run single by Janelle Fair and a three-run homer off the bat of Maggie McGowan that put a huge exclamation point on the inning.
 
Eastern got on the board first in the second inning thanks to back-to-back doubles by Emily Houck and Tori Jacobson and a bases-loaded walk to Fair. After the Eagles got one more in the third, Manhattanville finally got on the board in the bottom of the third, as freshman pinch-hitter Arianna Martignetti (New Rochelle, N.Y./New Rochelle) and junior Katie Pitcher (Cold Spring, N.Y./Valley Central) went back-to-back to make it a one-run game.
 
The Eagles came back to regain their three-run lead thanks to a two-run homer by Fair in the fourth inning, but again the Valiants were able to get within a run following a two-run homer from freshman Kristen Rodopoulos (Scarsdale, N.Y./The Ursuline School). The home team had the tying run in scoring position later in the frame but could not tie the contest, and Eastern made sure that would not happen again in the next half inning.
 
Terenzoni was a terror at the top of the lineup for the Eagles, finishing the day 3 for 4 with a homer, three runs scored and two RBI. Fair and McGowan were also huge in the middle of the order, as Fair drove in five runs and scored twice while McGowan had three RBI and scored a pair as well.
 
Fair (15-8) also earned the win in the circle, working around three Valiant homers to allow four runs on only six hits in a complete-game effort. The Valiant stat lines were not as pretty:  Pitcher (6-3) took the loss by allowing five runs (three earned) in 2.2 innings, while Rodopoulos pitched well in relief until the sixth, finishing with 11 runs allowed (five earned) on eight hits in 3.1 innings of work.