Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville softball team banged out 27 hits and hit six homers in 11 innings as the Valiants clinched a fourth straight appearance in the Freedom Conference Tournament with two wins over Delaware Valley on Tuesday afternoon at Manhattanville Field. The Valiants took the first game, 16-7 (6 inn.), before cruising to an 8-0 (5 inn.) victory in game two.
 
With the sweep, Manhattanville (16-14, 7-5 Freedom) clinches no worse than fourth in the conference standings, meaning the team will join DeSales, King's (Pa.) and FDU-Florham in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. on May 3-4 for the conference tournament, as the Valiants look for their first Freedom Conference championship.
 
The Valiants had little trouble with the Aggie pitching staff on the day, hitting 24 for 60 (.450) as a team and launching six homers and 11 extra-base hits. Senior Jessica Van Galen (Bedford Hills, N.Y./Fox Lane) entered the day fifth in D-III in batting average yet managed to raise her average 12 points to .588 with a 5-for-7 day that included six RBI. Senior Kim Angiolillo (White Plains, N.Y./Good Counsel Academy), junior Shauna Mulkerin (Branchburg, N.J./Immaculata) and sophomore Laura Montalto (Bronx, N.Y./Preston) all hit two home runs each for the Valiants as well on the afternoon.  
 
Manhattanville played home-run derby in game one, launching five homers as part of an 18-hit attack as the Valiants started the day with a 16-7 (6 inn.) win.
 
Mulkerin had a career game at the plate with fours across the board, going 4 for 4 with two homers, four RBI and four runs scored. Montalto also launched a pair of home runs and drove in a career-high six runs for the Valiants, while senior Brianna Scapperotti (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) had a career-high four hits and added an RBI and three runs scored.
 
Krystle Mazza had a big game for Delaware Valley in a losing effort, going 2 for 5 with a homer and five RBI.
 
It didn't take long for Manhattanville to get on the scoreboard in the first game, scoring two runs just three batters in. Scapperotti laced a triple over the right fielder's head to get into scoring position, and then was able to stroll home after Montalto went opposite field for her second homer of the year. The Valiants scored again via the long ball in the second, doubling their lead after junior Kirstin Savage led off with a walk and Mulkerin followed with a shot that richocheted off the tree beyond the fence in left-center for her first career home run.
 
Delaware Valley used one big swing of the bat in the third inning to erase the entire deficit, however, as Mazza sent an offering by junior Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Sask./Craik) deep to center field for a grand slam.
 
But Manhattanville came right back in the bottom half, scoring four more to quickly regain its edge. The Valiants loaded the bases with one out on singles by Mulkerin and Scapperotti bookending a walk to sophomore Rosaria Callara (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale), and got one run when Mulkerin beat a throw to the plate on a Montalto infield grounder. Van Galen followed by lacing a ball down the left-field line to plate all three runners.
 
After the Aggies got three runs off sophomore Kristen Rodopoulos (Scarsdale, N.Y./The Ursuline School) in the top of the fifth, the Valiants matched that total in the bottom half to again go up by four. Mulkerin continued her career day by launching another two-run homer off another tree beyond left field, and that was followed by a Scapperotti RBI single.
 
The home team ended the game early with five more runs in the sixth, appropriately all coming via the long ball. Angiolillo made it 13-7 with her first homer of the year, and Montalto emptied the Valiant dugout for the fifth and final time with a three-run homer to straight-away center.
 
Taylor (8-2) was the beneficiary of all the offense, earning the win despite allowing four runs on three hits in four innings. Rodopoulos allowed three runs (one earned) on two hits over the final two frames.
 
Manhattanville again jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in game two, posting an 8-0 win in five innings to complete the sweep and clinch the postseason berth.
 
Van Galen was the leading hitter in this one, going 3 for 3 with four RBI and a run scored. Senior Katie Pitcher (Cold Spring, N.Y./Valley Central) added two hits and an RBI, while Angiolillo homered for the second straight game as well.
 
The aforementioned Angiolillo continued the team's home-run barrage in second inning, as she crushed a three-run bomb deep over the center-field fence to put the Valiants up by three after two frames. Delaware Valley threatened to erase that lead in the third inning as the first three batters all reached, but Rodopoulos bore down and induced a pair of infield groundouts before striking out Nina Stachura looking to end the threat.
 
The Valiants got another run in the third on an RBI single by Van Galen before closing out the contest with four more runs in the fifth frame. Van Galen again did much of the damage in that inning, as her bases-loaded single scored three runs to make it 7-0. Pitcher then blooped a ball between the second baseman and right fielder to move freshman pinch-runner Alyx Scapperotti (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) to third base, and she scampered home when the throw back to the infield got away.
 
Rodopoulos (7-9) had a much better second outing of the day, earning her fourth shutout of the year and fifth of her career by scattering seven hits and striking out four in five innings.
 
Manhattanville will get right back into action tomorrow afternoon, as the Valiants make their final road trip of the regular season to Coast Guard for two games with the Bears beginning at 3 p.m.