PURCHASE, N.Y. – Freshman Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) led a relentless Valiant attack with three home runs and a 5-for-7 day at the plate as the Manhattanville College softball team swept The College of Mount Saint Vincent by scores of 8-0 and 20-4 in non-conference action on Wednesday afternoon at a frigid Manhattanville Field.
 
The Valiant offense returned to form with a big day against the Dolphins, hitting .492 (30 for 61) as a team and crushing seven home runs. Chapelone had three of those homers – the first three of her collegiate career – and also scored five runs in the two wins.
 
Freshman Tori Dixon (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay) needed one swing to drive in a team-leading four runs on the day thanks to her grand slam in the fifth inning of game two, while junior Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) and freshmen Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) and Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) both had four hits each on the afternoon for Manhattanville (21-1).
 
GAME ONE
 
Sophomore Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) led Manhattanville in the first game of the day, tossing her fifth shutout of the season in the Valiants' 8-0 win (5 inn.). The sophomore allowed only two hits and struck out six in five innings to move to 11-1 on the season.
 
Playing as the visiting team in CMSV's assigned home game, Manhattanville struck first in the top of the first on RBI singles from Buboi and Hartenstein. Two more scored in the second, when junior Brittany Deieso (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) came home after a bad throw in the infield and a subsequent homer from Chapelone, her first career four-bagger.
 
Manhattanville doubled its lead in the fifth inning, with Diemicke singling home a run and then coming home on a three-run homer off the bat of sophomore Alexis Ventarola (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester).
 
GAME TWO
 
Manhattanville exploded for 15 runs in the final two innings of game two, turning a one-run game into a 20-4 (5 inn.) victory.
 
Multiple Valiants had big games for Manhattanville, led by Chapelone going 3 for 4 with two runs batted in and three runs scored. Hartenstein and Diemicke both had three hits each as well, while Dixon's one big hit gave her a team-best four RBIs.
 
The Valiants got on the board first in the second inning on a Diemicke RBI double, then got four more in the third on a Chapelone homer and a Hartenstein RBI single that turned into three runs after a defensive misplay.
 
Mount Saint Vincent made it a game with four runs in the bottom of the third inning, but the Valiant offense was just getting started, scoring six runs on just three swings in the fourth. Buboi scored a pair with a single to center, and that was followed by the team-leading sixth homer of the year off the bat of junior Alicia Marino (Mahopac, N.Y./Pleasantville). After singles by Hartenstein and freshman Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer), Deieso plated a pair with a two-base hit.
 
Nine more runs came home for the Valiants in the fifth inning to invoke the mercy rule. Chapelone and junior Adrena Daw (Crompond, N.Y./Walter Panas) started the frame with back-to-back homers, followed soon after by another Diemicke RBI double. The big hit of the inning came from Dixon, who launched a pitch over the right-field fence to clear the bases and provide an exclamation point to the scoring.
 
Freshman Julianna Orrico (Bronx, N.Y./Preston) got the start for Manhattanville in game two, but could not get out of the third inning in allowing four runs (one earned) on four hits in 2.2 innings. Hartenstein tossed the final 2.1 frames, allowing just one hit to earn her second win of the year.
 
Manhattanville will return to MAC Freedom action on Saturday, when the Valiants travel to DeSales University for two games with the preseason favorite Bulldogs beginning at 1 p.m.