PURCHASE, N.Y. – The offense kept rolling for the Manhattanville College softball team on Wednesday afternoon, as the Valiants extended their season-opening winning streak to 14 games with 10-0 and 13-5 victories over FDU-Florham in MAC Freedom action at Manhattanville Field.
Manhattanville (14-0, 4-0 MAC Freedom) remains one of only four undefeated teams in Division III with the two wins, as the Valiants have already surpassed their win total (13) from all of last season. The 14-game winning streak is one back of the program-record 15-game stretch in 2007.
Freshman
Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) led the Valiant hit parade with a 4-for-5 effort at the plate, driving in four and scoring four times. Sophomore
Laurel Coito (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) had one of the team's five homers and also scored a team-best five times, while freshman
Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer) hit a grand slam on the way to a six-RBI day.
Sophomore
Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) earned both wins in the circle for Manhattanville as well, allowing five runs (four earned) on 10 hits to FDU-Florham (6-6, 2-2 MAC Freedom), which entered the game as the top offense in Division III, averaging over nine runs per game and hitting .427 as a team.
GAME ONE The Valiants made quick work of FDU in the first game, getting seven runs via the long ball on the way to a 10-0 win in less than an hour.
The home team managed just six hits in five innings, but four of them drove in runs and two left the yard. Torres had one hit and it was a grand slam, while junior
Alicia Marino (Mahopac, N.Y./Pleasantville) added a three-run homer for the Valiants.
Manhattanville took advantage of some wildness by FDU starter Sydney Worek to score five runs on just one hit in the first inning. Freshman
Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) earned the Valiants' fourth straight walk to drive in the first run, and then Torres unloaded every base with a shot over the centerfield fence to make it a 5-0 game.
Another walk to lead off the second inning was followed by three straight Valiant singles, with Coito and Buboi finishing the string with run-scoring base hits to give the home team a seven-run lead after two frames.
After going scoreless in the third, one swing of the bat brought three more runs home in the fourth, as Marino deposited a ball over the left-field fence for her third homer of the year.
Meanwhile, Feeney had little trouble with the Devil batters, allowing only three hits and striking out two on just 46 pitches to pick up the victory.
GAME TWO The runs kept coming for Manhattanville in game two, as the Valiants pounded out 13 runs on 15 hits to complete the sweep with a 13-5 win.
Buboi again led the charge offensively, going 3 for 4 with three RBIs and two runs scored, while Coito had two hits, drove in one and scored three times.
After both teams scored once in the first three half-innings, Manhattanville came back with two in the bottom half of the second to regain the lead for good. Junior
Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) and senior
Alyx Scapperotti (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) singled with one out to set up sophomore
Alexis Ventarola (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester), who laced a two-run double to right center.
After the Devils got back within one in the top of the third, the home team again responded with two more to take a 5-2 lead. Marino led off with a single and came home on a sacrifice fly from Torres, and Hartenstein scampered home after a Diemicke double. Manhattanville then broke the game open with five runs in the fourth inning. Buboi drove home one with a single, followed by a two-run single off the bat of Hartenstein and another run-scoring single from Buboi.
After FDU scored three times in the top of the fifth to stay alive, the Valiants promptly shut the door with three solo home runs in the bottom half, as Coito and Buboi went back-to-back before Hartenstein lined a shot over the left-field fence to end the game early.
Feeney earned her second win of the day and improved to 8-0 this season by allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits in five innings.
After taking the weekend off, Manhattanville will return to action on Tuesday with a huge matchup at William Paterson University, as the 14-0 Valiants take on the 12-0 Pioneers in Wayne, N.J. beginning at 3 p.m.
