Box Score SALISBURY, Md. – The magic ran out for the Manhattanville softball team in the championship round of the Salisbury, Maryland Regional on Sunday afternoon, as the Valiants dropped an 8-2 game to top-seeded Salisbury, ranked fourth in the latest NFCA Div. III National Poll, at the NCAA Div. III Championships hosted by Salisbury at the SU Softball Field.
 
Manhattanville (29-10) sees its excellent season come to an end with the loss, with the team's 29 victories just one away from the program record of 30 set both In 2005 and 2006. The two victories on the weekend also doubled the total of NCAA Tournament victories in program history and moved the Valiants into the regional championship round for the first time ever.
 
With the win, Salisbury (38-3) advances to the super regional round next weekend.

Manhattanville had three players recognized on the Regional All-Tournament team following the game, as seniors Alyssa Taylor (Craik, Sask./Craik) and Kirsten Savage (Harrington Park, N.J./Old Tappan) as well as freshman Shelbee Damianos (Ojai, Calif./Nordhoff) earned spots on the 10-person squad.
 
Less than 24 hours removed from throwing 253 pitches in a pair of complete-game wins, Taylor pitched well again against a potent Salisbury offense but didn't receive much help. The senior (27-8) allowed just seven hits and struck out five, but only three of the eight runs she allowed were earned on the day.
 
Manhattanville, meanwhile, managed only two hits against Salisbury ace Rachel Johnson (23-2), a single by freshman Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) to lead off the second inning and a solo homer off the bat of Savage with two outs in the seventh. Johnson struck out seven and allowed only three baserunners in the victory.
 
The Sea Gulls got on the board first with two runs in the second inning, beginning with an RBI single up the middle off the bat of Molly Simpson, who had excellent day at the plate with three hits, three RBIs and a run scored. SU doubled its lead soon after on a double steal attempt, which allowed Angela Malgieri to cross the plate.
 
The Valiants used some patience at the plate to get on the board in the third inning and halve the lead. Freshman Brittany Deieso (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) started the frame with a four-pitch walk, and junior Rosaria Callara (Scarsdale, N.Y./Scarsdale) followed with a tremendous 13-pitch at-bat (including fouling off seven two-strike offerings) that resulted in the speedster forcing a bad throw by Johnson to reach first. With runners on the corners and one down, sophomore Alyx Scapperotti (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) executed a textbook sacrifice bunt that plated Deieso for the team's first run.
 
Salisbury built up a cushion in the fourth inning, plating four unearned runs to take a 6-1 lead at the midway point of the contest. Simpson again was in the middle of things with a run-scoring single, and Dorsey ended the scoring with a two-run single that barely eluded the glove of a diving Deieso in right field. Simpson added another hit and another RBI in the fifth inning as well, completing her 3-for-3 day.

Taylor provided an appropriate end to her collegiate career in the circle, however, striking out the final batter she faced in the seventh. Savage also ended her career on a high note, as the senior crushed her fourth homer of the season on the final pitch she saw to make it an 8-2 final.
 
The loss marks the final game in the collegiate careers of Taylor, Savage and classmate Emily Frawley (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains), but the Valiants return eight players from this year's Freedom Conference Championship squad as they look to get back to the regionals for a second straight season in 2015.