Game 1 Boxscore

PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville softball team has become quite accustomed to extra-inning affairs at home in the month of April, but unfortunately not all of them could go the way of the home team.

In a back-and-forth Freedom Conference contest on Saturday, Misericordia University scored three times in the top of the 11th inning to outlast the Valiants, 7-5 (11 inn.), in game one of a Freedom Conference doubleheader at Manhattanville Field. Game two was postponed due to weather and will be rescheduled at a later date.

Despite the 12 runs, the contest was a pitchers' duel between Misericordia's Caitlin Crowley and Valiant senior Samantha Howe (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./John Jay), as the two hurlers traded zeroes for most of the contest. Crowley (9-6) allowed just five hits and struck out 10 in 11 innings to earn the win, while Howe (9-6) allowed 11 hits but also tied for second on the school's single-game list with a career-high 11 strikeouts in a losing effort.

The final two innings featured more scoring than the first nine combined, coming in the 10th and 11th innings after the international tiebreaker rules were applied. The Cougars went up 4-3 in the top of the 10th to put pressure on the home team, but the Valiants re-tied the score in their final at-bat on an RBI single from sophomore Kim Angiolillo (White Plains, N.Y./Good Counsel Academy).

Things unraveled for Manhattanville in the 11th, however, as back-to-back RBI singles from Hollie Sarnak and Nicole Wenner and a bases loaded walk to Nicole Boccia put the visitors ahead to stay. The Valiants attempted another comeback in the bottom half, as a double by sophomore Lynsey Schill (Waterloo, Ont./St. David Catholic) plated one run, but three straight outs followed and the home team suffered the loss.

Manhattanville did very little against Crowley in the first seven innings, yet still had a chance for the win. After giving up two runs in the first inning, Howe shut the Cougar offense down and then helped her own cause with a big three-run homer to center field in the fourth inning to put the home team up, 3-2.

The Valiants still held that 3-2 lead in the seventh inning, but with two outs Wenner blooped the ball into left field to score the game-tying run from second base and send the game into extra innings.

Manhattanville (10-9, 7-2 Freedom) remains 1.5 games ahead of the competition in the race for the Freedom Conference regular-season title with now five games to go. Sunday's scheduled doubleheader against NYU-Poly has already been cancelled due to field conditions, meaning that the Valiants will return to action on Wednesday when they host Hunter College for two games starting at 3 p.m. at Manhattanville Field.