CLERMONT, Fla. - The Manhattanville College softball team hit a combined .508 (31 for 61) with six homers and 13 total extra-base hits as the Valiants remained unbeaten on the 2016 season with a 15-5 win over Marywood University and an 8-5 victory over Lebanon Valley College on Monday at the Spring Games.

Manhattanville (4-0) is off to the second-best start to a season in program history, behind only the 2003 squad that won its first seven games. The four wins are already tied for the most by a team on a Spring Break trip with six games still left to go.

The Valiants had seven starters hit .500 or better on the day, led by freshman Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer) going 5-for-6 with a homer, two runs batted in and four runs scored. Junior Alicia Marino (Mahopac, N.Y./Pleasantville) hit .714 (5 for 7) with a homer, two RBIs and two runs scored, while sophomore Alexis Ventarola (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester) slugged an impressive 2.667 with two homers, two walks and five RBIs in five official trips to the plate.

GAME ONE

Manhattanville exploded for 17 hits in just four innings in the first game of the day against Marywood, scoring seven times in both the second and third innings of the 15-5 win.

Ventarola, Torres and junior Shelbee Damianos (Ojai, Calif./Nordhoff) all homered for the Valiants in the victory, with Ventarola driving in a team-high four runs and Damianos bringing in three. Marino also went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate as well in the win.

Manhattanville fell behind for the first time all year thanks to a three-run homer in the top of the second by Marywood's Alexa Scala, but the home team responded nicely with 14 runs in the next two innings to regain control.

All the damage in the second inning came with two outs, beginning with a three-run homer off the bat of Ventarola that scored juniors Brittany Deieso (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) and Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge). That was followed by a Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) single and a two-run blast from Damianos to put the Valants ahead 5-3. Freshman Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) then added two more runs with a double that scored Torres and classmate Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran).

After freshman Julianna Orrico (Bronx, N.Y./Preston) set Marywood down in order in the third, Manhattanville came right back up and added another seven-spot to the scoreboard. Diemicke started the rally with an RBI single and subsequently came home on a Ventarola sacrifice fly, before back-to-back doubles by Chapelone and Damianos added two more runs. A run-scoring single from Buboi and a two-run homer from Torres completed the inning.

Orrico (2-0) picked up her second win in as many days, tossing four innings and allowing three runs on three hits with five strikeouts. Hartenstein pitched the final frame, allowing two runs on one hit.

GAME TWO

Manhattanville found itself tied at five headed into the seventh inning against Lebanon Valley, but the Valiants struck for three runs in the top-half of the inning to pull out the 8-5 victory.

Marino and Hartenstein played big roles in the Valiant victory, as Hartenstein went 3-for-4 with three RBIs - including the go-ahead RBI in the seventh - and Marino had two hits and delivered a big two-run homer to provide some cushion in the final frame.

Hartenstein got Manhattanville on the board early of game two, stroking a two-run, two-out double to score Chapelone and Torres. But Leb Val came back with four runs in the third to take the lead, thanks to a Cheyanne Brown RBI single and a three-run homer by Kelli Valle.

However, the Valiants responded with three runs in the fourth to re-take the lead. Ventarola got the squad back within one with her second homer of the day, and sophomore Laurel Coito (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) singled with two down to set the stage for another homer, this one from Buboi, to make it a 5-4 Valiant lead.

The Dutchmen got one back in the fifth to even the score, but Manhattanville again came up big with three in the seventh to go ahead for good. Torres led off the inning with a double and was immediately brought in by a Hartenstein single, and Marino followed up with a two-run homer to give her team a cushion.

Sophomore Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) had another strong outing in the circle, allowing just one earned run on six hits and striking out five in a complete-game victory.

Manhattanville will return for its third straight day of games down south tomorrow, when the Valiants take on Penn State Behrend and Webster University at 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., respectively.