Game 1 Boxscore
Game 2 Boxscore

EDWARDSVILLE, Pa. – The Manhattanville softball team dropped a pair of games to Wilkes University in the teams' Freedom Conference regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon at the Ralston Athletic Complex, 3-1 and 5-4. However, the Valiants still managed to fight another day as the squad earned the fourth seed in the upcoming Freedom Conference Tournament after all the tiebreakers had been determined.

Manhattanville (12-16, 8-6 Freedom) will be the fourth and final seed for the double-elimination tournament, which will begin on Friday at King's (Pa.) College, and will take on top-seeded DeSales University in its first game. FDU-Florham is the second seed and the host Lady Monarchs are the third seed to round out the field.

It was a tough day at the plate for Manhattanville, which had trouble solving Wilkes hurler Lindsay Behrenshausen over the course of two games. The Colonel right hander allowed four earned runs on 14 hits in 14 innings of work to earn a pair of wins on the day, while Valiant senior Samantha Howe (Wappingers Falls, N.Y./John Jay) took a pair of losses despite striking out 11 and limiting Wilkes to eight runs on 15 hits in 12 innings.

Sophomore Jessica Van Galen (Bedford Hills, N.Y./Fox Lane) was the team's offensive leader on the afternoon, as the first baseman went 4 for 6 for a double, two runs batted in and a run scored. Senior Lindsay Zekus (Sleepy Hollow, N.Y./Sleepy Hollow) had three hits on the day while classmate Nicole Bifulco (Howard Beach, N.Y./St. Francis Prep) and junior Ashley Dell (Huntington Station, N.Y./Huntington) had two each for the visitors as well.

Manhattanville could get little production from anyone other than Van Galen (3 for 3) in game one, as the Valiants were limited to one run on five hits in a 3-1 loss.

The Colonels struck for two runs in the bottom of the first inning, as Howe got the first two outs before walking a batter and surrendering a two-run homer to Cori Saltzer. The Valiants got one of those runs back in the fifth inning, as Dell doubled to lead off and eventually came home on a Wilkes error, but the Colonels got it back in the bottom half and Manhattanville went down in order the rest of the way.

There was a little more offense in game two, as seven Valiants had at least one hit and the visitors held a 4-1 lead in the fifth inning, but Wilkes scored the final four runs of the game to squeeze out a 5-4 victory and secure the sweep.

The two teams alternated runs in the first three frames, as Manhattanville got one in the first on a Van Galen sacrifice fly and one more in the third on another sac fly, this time by sophomore Lynsey Schill (Waterloo, Ont./St. David Catholic). The Valiant total doubled in the top of the fifth, as Van Galen singled home Schill and then came around on a base hit by Bifulco.

But Wilkes came back with three in the bottom half to tie the score on three straight hits and a sacrifice fly, and then scratched across another run in the sixth inning to take back the lead for good.

The Valiants will close out the regular season on Tuesday, as Manhattanville hosts Baruch College in a non-conference doubleheader starting at 3:00 p.m. at Manhattanville Field.