Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 EDWARDSVILLE, Pa. – The weather was nice but the day was not for the Manhattanville softball team on Saturday afternoon, as the Valiants were swept by Wilkes, 5-0 and 5-4 (11 inn.), in a Freedom Conference doubleheader at the Ralston Athletic Complex.
 
Senior Katie Pitcher (Cold Spring, N.Y./Valley Central) led Manhattanville (11-11, 5-3 Freedom) with four hits in eight at-bats on Saturday, but the Valiants had trouble generating scoring opportunities all day long against Wilkes (9-13, 2-4 Freedom) pitchers Laykin Hughes and Brooke Chapin.
 
Hughes (2-7) shut the Valiant offense down in the first game of the day, scattering six hits in a 5-0 shutout win for the Colonels. She struck out seven and walked none in the complete-game victory.
 
The Valiants fell behind early and never recovered, as Wilkes scored a pair of unearned runs off of sophomore Kristen Rodopoulos (Scarsdale, N.Y./The Ursuline School) to take a 2-0 lead after one frame. Rodopoulos almost escaped another jam in the second inning, getting a strikeout and fielder's choice with runners at second and third, but Michelle Coyle singled with two outs to score both runners and give her team a four-run lead after two.
 
The Colonels added another run in the third on an RBI single by Alex Hoops.
 
Rodopoulos (5-7) pitched the first three innings and suffered the loss, ceding five runs (three earned) on seven hits. Pitcher came on in relief, tossing three perfect innings to keep the margin at five, and she was also the lone Valiant to record multiple hits, going 2 for 3 at the plate.
 
The second game brought no more luck for the Valiants, as Manhattanville had a one-run lead in the top of the 11th inning but could not hold it in a frustrating 5-4 (11 inn.) defeat.
 
After the two teams could not decide a winner in seven innings, neither team scored in the eighth or ninth innings to introduce the international tiebreaker starting with the 10th frame. Both teams had great chances in the 10th but could not score, with the Valiants cutting down the game-winning run at the plate in the process.
 
The scoring finally came in the 11th, beginning with the visitors in the top half. With junior Kirsten Savage (Harrington Park, N.J./Old Tappan) placed on second to start the inning, the first two batters could not drive her home but Pitcher picked them up with a clutch two-out single that made it 4-3 Valiants.
 
But three outs from victory, junior Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Sask./Craik) could not record an out in the bottom half, as three straight singles helped Wilkes walk off with a sweep. A bunt single by Coyle put runners on the corners with none out, and Mandy Seccia followed with an RBI single to tie the score. The next batter was Jessalyn Paveletz, who ended the game with a run-scoring single of her own.
 
Manhattanville had taken its first lead of the game way back in the fourth inning, when they answered a Colonel run in the third with three of their own. Sophomore Laura Montalto (Bronx, N.Y./Preston) led off with a single and advanced to third on a double by senior Jessica Van Galen (Bedford Hills, N.Y./Fox Lane), and Pitcher followed with an RBI single to tie the score. After a pair of ground outs threatened to end the momentum, senior Brianna Scapperotti (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) delivered a two-run single to make it a 3-1 score.
 
Wilkes came back with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, however, helping to send the game into extra innings.
 
Pitcher, Montalto and Van Galen all had two hits apiece for the Valiants, and all three players along with Savage scored one run apiece. Pitcher and Scapperotti were the only two players to drive in a run for Manhattanville on the day, with each player plating a pair.
 
Taylor (5-1) suffered her first loss of the year, despite allowing only two earned runs (five overall) on 10 hits in 10-plus innings. She also struck out seven, but was out-dueled by Chapin (2-5), who allowed four runs (three earned) on 10 hits in 11.0 innings.
 
Manhattanville will get right back to action tomorrow, as the Valiants return home to Manhattanville Field to host Western Connecticut State for a pair of non-conference contests starting at noon.