EDWARDSVILLE, Pa. – Junior Brittany Deieso (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) and freshman Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) combined for four hits and four runs batted in as the NFCA #20 and top-seeded Manhattanville College softball team escaped fourth-seeded King's (Pa.) College by a 6-5 score in game one of the 2016 MAC Freedom Softball Championships, held at Wilkes University's Ralston Athletic Complex on Saturday.
 
Manhattanville (35-2) advances to the winner's bracket with the victory, and will face off with the winner of today's second game between second-seeded Misericordia University and third-seeded FDU Florham. King's (22-17) will face the Misericordia-FDU loser in an elimination game later today as well.
 
Chapelone had a good game from the top of the lineup, going 2 for 3 with a homer, two RBIs and two runs scored, while Deieso made a difference from the bottom of the order with two hits, two RBIs and a run scored. Sophomore Alexis Ventarola (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester) also had two hits and drove in one for the top seed.

King's was led by Kelcie Senchak, who homered twice and drove in three runs for the Lady Monarchs.
 
King's got on the board first in the opening frame on a two-run homer from Senchak, but the Valiants took advantage of two errors in the bottom half to get one back when a two-out liner by junior Alicia Marino (Mahopac, N.Y./Pleasantville) glanced off the glove of centerfielder Zina Knight to score Chapelone.
 
Senchak struck again in the third inning with a solo shot over the right-field fence to put King's back up by a pair, but the Valiants came back with some small ball to score two in the fourth. Junior Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) led off with a single and moved over on a Deieso walk, and both runners moved up on a well-timed double steal. Ventarola plated one on a single to center, and then Deieso tied the game with a great slide at the plate on a Chapelone groundout.
 
Deieso did it again in the fifth with her bat to finally put the Valiants ahead. With two on and two outs, the junior laced a double to right-center that scored Diemicke and classmate Adrena Daw (Crompond, N.Y./Walter Panas) to give Manhattanville its first lead of the game, 5-3.
 
King's got one back in the sixth, but two good defensive plays kept Manhattanville in the lead. With a runner on third and one out, sophomore Laurel Coito (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) corralled a fly ball in left and fired home to keep the runner at third. Then with two down, sophomore Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) got a glove on a hard grounder up the middle by Rachael DeTore, then found the ball and just got the out at first for the third out.
 
Chapelone got the King's run back leading off the bottom of the sixth, with a long homer over the fence in left-center to make it a 6-4 Valiant advantage. That turned out to be crucial after the Lady Monarchs scored one in the seventh on an RBI double from Lexi Wolk. But with the tying run on second with one out, Feeney induced a groundout and then ended it with a called third strike to seal the victory.
 
Feeney (19-2) gave up a season-high 12 hits but still picked up the victory, allowing all five runs and striking out three.