ST. DAVIDS, Pa. – The Manhattanville College softball team kicked off its MAC Freedom schedule on Saturday afternoon against Eastern University, with the Valiants hitting .386 as a team in 5-1 and 12-1 (5 inn.) victories over the Eagles at the SU Softball Field.
 
Freshman Melina Strano (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) had a great day at the plate to lead Manhattanville (7-7, 2-0 MAC Freedom), going 5-for-6 with two runs batted in and two runs scored. Sophomore Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) had three hits, drove in four and scored three times, while classmate Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) also drove in two and scored a pair.
 
Game One: Manhattanville 5, Eastern 1
 
Manhattanville never trailed in the first game of the day, scoring the first five runs of the afternoon in a 5-1 win. Buboi and classmate Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer) both drove in two runs for the visitors, while junior Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) carried a shutout into the seventh inning in the victory.
 
Torres made her lone swing of game one a good one, as she came on as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded in the third inning and delivered a two-run double to put the Valiants up by a pair. Strano and sophomore Alexa Grniet (Morristown, N.J./Morristown) started the rally with singles before Torres' big hit.
 
The Valiants added one more in the fourth, as senior Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) doubled off the fence in center and came home on a run-scoring single from junior Laurel Coito (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic). The visitors then put up two more in the seventh thanks to a two-run double from Buboi that plated senior Brittany Deieso (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) and freshman Sam Jedrey (La Canada Flintridge, Calif./La Canada).
 
Eastern ruined the shutout with two outs in the seventh on a sacrifice fly from Kelsey Clever, but Feeney (3-4) still had another good outing in the circle, allowing just the one run on seven hits while striking out four.
 
Game Two: Manhattanville 12, Eastern 1 (5 inn.)
                                                                                                                                                                                      
Manhattanville jumped on Eastern early in game two, scoring four times in the first and rolling to a 12-1 win in five innings. Hartenstein led the Valiants at the plate, going 3-for-4 and accounting for seven runs with four RBIs and three runs scored, while Strano had another big game with three hits in three at-bats, two RBIs and a run scored.
 
The Valiants took control early with four runs on four hits in the first inning. Back-to-back RBI singles from Hartenstein and senior Alicia Marino (Mahopac, N.Y./Pleasantville) started the scoring, followed by a run-scoring groundout from Diemicke and a Strano double to plate the fourth run.
 
Doubles from Marino and Strano put the visitors up by six in the top of the third inning. Eastern got one back in the bottom of the fourth, but the Valiants doubled their total with six more in the fifth to invoke the mercy rule. Sophomore Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) plated a pair with a single down the left field line, and then four runs came home on a Hartenstein double after the relay throw got away and allowed the sophomore to come all the way around.
 
Freshman Melissa Hess (Philadelphia, Pa./Saint Hubert Catholic) pitched well to earn the win for Manhattanville, allowing only one run on two hits in five innings of work to improve to 2-1 on the year.
 
Manhattanville will head further south tomorrow, when the Valiants face off with perennial national power Salisbury University beginning at 1 p.m.