Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 DALLAS, Pa. – The Manhattanville softball team ran its winning streak to nine games with a 7-3 game-one win over Misericordia, but the Valiants had to settle for a split after dropping game two by a 4-3 score in a Freedom Conference doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at Anderson Field.
 
Manhattanville (11-7, 7-1 Freedom) remains in the first place in the conference standings despite its first Freedom loss of the year, while Misericordia (9-11, 2-4 Freedom) improves in conference play with the split.
 
Manhattanville started the day with its ninth consecutive victory, as the Valiants scored twice in the first inning and then used a four-run fifth to put the game away in a 7-3 victory.
 
Freshman Shelbee Damianos (Ojai, Calif./Nordhoff) was the big hitter for the visitors, going 3 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Junior Rosaria Callara (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) also had two hits, drove in two and scored once as well in the win.
 
Manhattanville took the lead for good just three batters into the game, as sophomore Alyx Scapperotti (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) doubled with one out and came home on a Damianos RBI single. After a ground out, senior Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Sask./Craik) doubled the lead with an RBI single of her own.
 
The Cougars got an unearned run in the bottom of the second on a single by Melanie Quintanilla, and that is where the score stayed until a big fifth inning for the Valiants. Callara made it a 3-1 score with an RBI double that plated freshman Brittany Deieso (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster), and a Scapperotti walk was followed by a two-run triple off the bat of Damianos, and she made it all the way around after an errant throw by the second baseman.
 
Misericordia made a 6-3 game in the bottom half of the fifth, but Callara got one of those runs back with a run-scoring single in the sixth to provide for the final score.
 
Taylor moved to 10-5 with her ninth straight win, allowing only six hits and three runs (two earned) along with six strikeouts in a complete-game win. Bailee Schies (5-4) suffered the loss, allowing all seven runs on 11 hits.
 
The second game of the day was a back-and-forth affair, with the Cougars rallying for two runs in the bottom of the sixth to snap Manhattanville's nine-game winning streak with a 4-3 win.
 
The Valiants were limited to nine hits in the loss, marking only the third time in the last 10 games that the squad finished in single digits in the hits column. Damianos and classmate Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) both had two hits, scored once and drove in one, while senior Kirsten Savage (Harrington Park, N.J./Old Tappan) also went 2 for 3 with an RBI.
 
After a scoreless first two innings, Manhattanville broke the ice in the third on an RBI groundout from Damianos. The Cougars came back to take the lead in the fourth inning, getting a sacrifice fly from Melissa Parker and a run-scoring groundout from Samantha Hare.
 
Manhattanville responded quickly in the top of the fifth, scoring twice to regain the lead. After the Valiants had one run cut down at home plate, Diemicke evened the score with a single to left, and Savage followed a Taylor base hit with one of her own to score Diemicke and put the visitors back up 3-2.
 
However, Misericordia had one more comeback in it, loading the bases with one out in the sixth before bases-loaded walks to pinch-hitter Mackenzie Yurko and Megan Gowe gave the Cougars a lead they would not relinquish.
 
Taylor (10-6) suffered her first loss since March 12 by allowing four runs on seven hits. Alissa Steier (2-1) came on in relief to toss two hitless innings and pick up the victory for the home team.
 
Manhattanville will take a few days off before returning to action on Wednesday, when the Valiants get back into non-conference play at Hunter beginning at 3 p.m.