LEESBURG, Fla. – Behind the first career no-hitter from sophomore
Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge), the #21 Manhattanville College softball team salvaged a split on its first day of Spring Break, defeating Bates College by a 9-0 (5 inn.) score after suffering a tough 4-3 defeat to the College of Saint Benedict earlier in the day.
Manhattanville (2-4), which arrived in Florida only hours before today's first game thanks to weather-related difficulties getting out of New York, did not have any problem offensively, hitting .434 on the day. Sophomore
Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) had a good afternoon at the plate, going 4-for-6 with three RBIs and three runs scored, while Hartenstein and senior
Brittany Deieso (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) had four hits each as well.
Game Two – Manhattanville 9, Bates 0 (5 inn.)
Hartenstein (1-1) was the story in the second game of the day, as she homered and also struck out seven in a five-inning no-hitter. The sophomore faced the minimum 15 batters in her first career no-no, as the lone base runner reached on an error and was subsequently caught stealing in the third.
The Valiant offense had its best game of the young season as well, pounding out 12 hits in just four at-bats. Buboi went 2-for-3 with three runs batted in, while Deieso went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored from the leadoff spot. Senior
Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) homered and drove in two as well for the Valiants.
It took Manhattanville only three batters to score a pair of runs in the first inning. Deieso led off with a single, followed by an RBI double from junior
Laurel Coito (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic). She was then promptly singled home by Buboi to give the Valiants the early edge.
The game broke open in the second inning, when six more runs came across with two outs. Bates pitcher Sam Fellers seemed to catch a huge break after a 5-2-3 double play with the bases loaded put her one out from escaping, but Buboi drove in two runs with a single to double the Valiant lead. Diemicke launched her first homer of the season to make it 6-0, and Hartenstein followed a double from sophomore
Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer) with her first long ball of 2017 to give the Valiants an eight-run cushion.
Manhattanville got one more in the fourth, when freshman
Melina Strano (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) picked up her first collegiate hit and eventually came home on the first career hit and RBI from classmate
Steph Muller (Port Jervis, N.Y./Port Jervis).
Game One – Saint Benedict 4, Manhattanville 3
Junior
Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) limited Saint Benedict to only six hits and did not allow an earned run in seven innings, but four errors led to all four Blazer runs in the one-run loss.
Manhattanville struck first in the second inning, as Diemicke doubled with one out and came home on an RBI single from sophomore
Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon). After Benedict tied the game in the bottom half with an unearned run, the Valiants took the lead again in the third on a run-scoring double from Torres that scored Buboi.
The lead stood until the fourth, when three Valiant errors led to three Blazer runs. Manhattanville tried to get back into the game in its final at-bat, as a CSB error allowed Buboi to score with two outs, but the final out was made on the basepaths to kill the rally and send the Valiants to their fourth straight loss.
Feeney (1-2) pitched well despite suffering her second loss of the year, allowing only six hits and striking out three in six innings. CSB's Kiela DeVlaeminch worked around 11 hits by striking out seven in the complete-game win.
Manhattanville will be back in action tomorrow with two more games in Florida, as the Valiants take on Saint Mary's (Ind.) College at 3:30 p.m. and Stockton University at 6 p.m. in Clermont.
