Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville softball team settled for a non-conference split with Western Connecticut State on a very windy Sunday afternoon at Manhattanville Field. The Valiants took the first game, 8-7, before dropping game two by a 5-2 score.
 
Senior Katie Pitcher (Cold Spring, N.Y./Valley Central) went a team-leading 3 for 5 on the day while scoring two runs and driving in one for Manhattanville (12-12). Senior Kim Angiolillo (White Plains, N.Y./Good Counsel Academy) and freshman Jillian Chittenden (Rye, N.Y./Rye) had two RBI each for the home team, while senior Jessica Van Galen (Bedford Hills, N.Y./Fox Lane) was eluded by the WCSU staff at every opportunity, getting just two official at-bats and going 1 for 2 with a run scored and three intentional walks.
 
Julia Bocek was a terror at the plate all day for Western Connecticut (5-12), ending the afternoon 5 for 7 with two homers, five RBI and four runs scored. Kylee Ruther followed by going 3 for 7 with a homer and three runs batted in.
 
The first game was a wild affair, as the Valiants took advantage of five WCSU errors to build up an 8-1 lead and then held on as a late Colonial rally came up short in an 8-7 win.
 
Pitcher helped out both at the plate and in the circle for the Valiants, going 2 for 2 with an RBI and two runs scored while also pitching the final two innings to earn the save. Angiolillo and Chittenden also drove in two runs apiece for the home team.
 
Manhattanville started the scoring in the bottom of the first, doing so without the benefit of a hit. With two out and no one on, junior Kirsten Savage (Harrington Park, N.J./Old Tappan) reached on an error by shortstop Christine Bighinatti, and then beat the throw to second base on a Van Galen grounder in the hole. WCSU pitcher Emily Cintorino induced a pop up from the next batter, sophomore Laura Montalto (Bronx, N.Y./Preston), but it squirted out of the glove of second baseman Jessica Caturano and Savage came around to score.
 
Western Connecticut tied the score in the second with an unearned run of their own, but Manhattanville came back with two in the fourth thanks to another WCSU error as well as some interesting Colonial strategy. Savage again led off by reaching on an error by Bighinatti, and was moved over two bases on a sac bunt and a ground out. Surprisingly, Cintorino then intentionally walked both Pitcher and Angiolillo to load the bases, and Chittenden stepped to the plate as a pinch hitter. After working the count full, she responded by punching a two-run single to center to make it 3-1 after four.
 
The floodgates opened for Manhattanville in the fifth, as another error started a rally that allowed five Valiant runs to score. With the bases loaded and two out, Montalto hit a grounder that went through the legs of backup shortstop Maegan Rodriguez to plate two runs and keep the inning alive. That was followed by a Pitcher RBI double and a two-run single from Angiolillo to make it 8-1.
 
Western Connecticut did not go away, however, as a leadoff homer by Nina Wojtkiewicz and a three-run shot by Ruther made it 8-5 four batters into the sixth. Pitcher came on in relief of junior Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Sask./Craik) after the homer and, after allowing the first two runners to reach, got out of the inning unscathed to maintain the three-run lead.
 
The Colonials threatened again in the seventh, scoring twice and putting the tying run on base with two outs, but sophomore centerfielder Rosaria Callara (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) made a great diving catch on a Stephanie Moss liner to finally secure the victory.
 
Taylor (6-1) pitched well for five innings before struggling late, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits over five-plus frames, but still picked up her sixth win of the year. Pitcher earned her first career save by allowing two runs on four hits over the final two innings.
 
Cintorino (1-4) allowed only four hits, but five errors combined to help her give up seven unearned scores. Moss allowed one unearned run on two hits over the final 1.1 innings.
 
The story of the second game was Bocek, as she homered twice and drove in four of her team's five runs as Western Connecticut posted a 5-2 win to earn a split.
 
Bocek finished the game 3 for 3 with four RBI and two runs scored, with the only other WestConn run coming on a RBI single by pinch-hitter Alexandra Emerson in the seventh inning. Montalto had the lone RBI for Manhattanville in the contest, as the home team was limited to six hits by Alexandra Sabith.
 
The Valiants got on the board first yet again in game two, as Montalto picked up an RBI groundout in the third inning to plate junior Shauna Mulkerin (Branchburg, N.J./Immaculata). The visitors answered right back in the fourth, as Bocek led off by serving a ball into the stiff breeze headed out to right-center for her first homer of the year.
 
Bocek was back at it again in the fifth, as this time she sent a three-run homer through the wind to left field, which gave the Colonials their first lead of the day at 4-1. Manhattanville got one run back in the bottom of the fifth when a WCSU throwing error allowed Callara to come around and score, but the home team managed only one more hit the rest of the way in suffering the loss.
 
Sophomore Kristen Rodopoulos (Scarsdale, N.Y./The Ursuline School) again did not get much support from her bats, as she fell to 5-8 on the year by allowing five runs on 10 hits over seven frames. Sabith (3-4) earned the win for Western Connecticut, allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out eight in seven innings.
 
Manhattanville will continue non-conference play on Wednesday, as the Valiants host Hunter for a doubleheader at Manhattanville Field beginning at 3 p.m.