Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 DOYLESTOWN, Pa. – The Manhattanville softball team clinched first place in the Freedom Conference regular-season standings and improved to 15-1 in its last 16 games with a convincing sweep of Delaware Valley on Thursday afternoon, earning two Freedom Conference victories by the scores of 19-0 and 12-2 at DVC Field.
 
The two quick victories clinch the top spot in the upcoming Freedom Conference Tournament for Manhattanville (17-7, 11-1 Freedom), which reached 11 conference wins for the first time as a member of the Freedom Conference.  In 12 conference games this season, the Valiants are outscoring their opponents by a 103-31 margin (six runs per game) and are hitting .417 as a team.
 
The Valiant offense continued to hum against Delaware Valley (3-23, 2-10 Freedom), as the Valiants combined for 31 runs on 33 hits and hit .500 as a team over just 10 innings. Senior Kirsten Savage (Harrington Park, N.J./Old Tappan) continued her hot hitting by going 6 for 8 with two RBIs and four runs scored, followed by freshman Brittany Deieso (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) with four hits, five RBIs and four runs in just six at-bats. Fellow freshman Shelbee Damianos (Ojai, Calif./Nordhoff) led all players with seven runs batted in over the two games as well.
 
Manhattanville started the day in impressive fashion, scoring at least once in all five innings in a 19-0 (5 inn.) game-one victory.
 
Freshman Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) registered a team-best four hits in five at-bats, driving in two and scoring three times to lead the Valiants at the plate. Deieso had a perfect day at the dish, going 3 for 3 with four RBIs and three runs scored while Savage and classmate Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Sask./Craik) both had three hits apiece.
 
The game got started quickly for the Valiants, as sophomore Alyx Scapperotti (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) tripled with one out and came home on a Damianos groundout. Deieso and Scapperotti added run-scoring singles in the second, while four more runs crossed the plate in the third to give the visitors a seven-run edge after three.
 
After three more runs scored in the fourth inning, Manhattanville put an emphatic cap on game one with a nine-spot in the fifth frame. Six different Valiants drove in runs during the final inning, led by Deieso's first collegiate home run and a two-run double off the bat of Diemicke that put an end to the scoring.
 
Taylor certainly did not need all the run support, scattering three hits and striking out three over the first four innings to pick up the victory. Classmate Emily Frawley (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) struck out two in a scoreless fifth to complete the shutout.
 
The hits kept coming in game two, as Manhattanville scored 12 runs on 15 hits to complete the sweep and clinch first place.
 
Damianos led the charge offensively, going 3 for 4 with a homer, four RBIs and a run scored. Junior Rosaria Callara (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) and Savage both had three hits and scored twice each, while Taylor and senior Shauna Mulkerin (Branchburg, N.J./Immaculata) both homered as well for the visitors.
 
The Valiants started the game quietly enough, going scoreless in the first and scratching together an unearned run in the second. But the floodgates opened again in the third, as seven runs scored to give the squad an eight-run edge. Taylor made it a 3-0 game with her ninth homer of the season, moving her into a tie for fifth on the school's single-season list, and Mulkerin concluded the inning with her fourth homer of the season.
 
Damianos continued the homer binge with her second of the year to lead off the fourth inning, and the freshman added a two-run single in the fifth that was promptly followed by a Diemicke RBI single to score the team's 31st and final run of the day.
 
Taylor (15-6) tossed all five innings in game two, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out nine Aggies.  The senior's 15 wins so far this year are a career high and are the most by a Valiant hurler since Maggie Thomas '07 had 26 victories during the 2007 campaign.
 
Manhattanville will get right back into action tomorrow, as the Valiants host Brooklyn for a non-conference doubleheader at Manhattanville Field beginning at 3 p.m.