PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College softball team locked up the top seed in the upcoming MAC Freedom Tournament and also kept its conference record unblemished in 2017 with 9-6 and 5-1 victories over a pesky DeSales University squad on a cool and rainy Saturday afternoon at Manhattanville Field.
 
Sophomore Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) had a team-leading four hits on the day for Manhattanville (21-9, 12-0 MAC Freedom), going 4-for-7 with three runs batted in and three runs scored, and also hit one of the Valiants' five home runs on the day.
 
Game 1: Manhattanville 9, DeSales 6
 
Manhattanville had to battle back from a pair of deficits in the first game of the day before finally pulling away with five runs in the sixth inning of the 9-6 win. The Valiants hit three homers in the victory, including two long balls from senior Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) and sophomore Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer) in the fourth.
 
DeSales (11-23, 4-8 MAC Freedom) scored single runs in the second and third innings on RBI singles from Andrea Artesani and Carly Benjamin. The Valiants took their first lead of the day in the fourth, as Diemicke launched a two-run homer to center field and then Torres rounded the bases with her second of the season later in the frame.
 
The see-saw battle continued in the fifth, as two Bulldog runs scored on a Madison Coughlin single to put the visitors back on top, only to have Buboi tie the score with an RBI groundout in the bottom half.
 
DeSales struck again for two runs in the top of the sixth on a Beaumont single and a Coughlin bases-loaded walk; however, Manhattanville finally came through with five runs in the bottom half to put the game away for good. A Diemicke leadoff walk preceded a two-run opposite-field homer by Hartenstein that tied the score. Back-to-back RBI doubles from freshmen Sam Jedrey (La Canada Flintridge, Calif./La Canada) and Melina Strano (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) put the home team back on top, and sophomore Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) added more insurance with a run-scoring single of her own.
 
Junior Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) set the Bulldogs down in order in the seventh to finish off the win. Feeney (11-4) gave up a season-high six runs (five earned) on nine hits, but still managed to win her ninth straight decision.
 
Game 2: Manhattanville 5, DeSales 1
 
Manhattanville jumped out to an early lead in game two thanks to a pair of first-inning homers from Buboi and senior Alicia Marino (Mahopac, N.Y./Pleasantville), and Hartenstein made the lead stand up in a 5-1 win.
 
After junior Laurel Coito (San Diego, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) was hit by a pitch for the program-record 13th time this season, Buboi crushed an opposite-field homer to right field to put the Valiants up by a pair. Marino followed three pitches later with her team-leading sixth long ball of the season to extend the Valiant lead to three after one inning. Marino's homer was the 22nd of her career, moving her into a tie for third with Alyssa Taylor '14 on the school's all-time list, while Buboi's 19th career homer ties Nicole Oliva '09 for fifth at the school.
 
Hartenstein gave back one run in the top of the second on an infield groundout, but that was all DeSales got against the sophomore, who allowed only two runners to reach second over her final four frames. She gave up only one run on five hits and struck out three in six innings to earn her seventh win of the year.
 
The home team scored twice more in the third inning after a Buboi single was misplayed into a run and Marino launched a sacrifice fly. Freshman Steph Muller (Port Jervis, N.Y./Port Jervis) closed out the game for Manhattanville in her collegiate pitching debut, allowing only one run in a scoreless seventh.
 
Manhattanville will get back into action on Wednesday with a non-conference doubleheader at Hunter College beginning at 3 p.m.