TUCSON, Ariz. – The Manhattanville College softball team started the 2018 season with a pair of victories at the NFCA D-III Leadoff Classic on Friday at Lincoln Park, coming back to defeat Fontbonne University by a 6-4 score before outslugging Thomas More College, 11-5.
 
Graduate student Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) led the Valiants by hitting .667 (4 for 6) with a homer and team-best five runs scored in the two wins. Sophomore Sam Jedrey (La Canada Flintridge, Calif./La Canada) went 3-for-5 with two doubles and three runs scored, while freshman Brooke Franson (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar) had three extra-base hits in the first day of her collegiate career as well.
 
Manhattanville 6, Fontbonne 4
 
After spotting Fontbonne a four-run lead in the top of the fourth, Manhattanville stormed back with the final six runs of the game to start the year with a 6-4 victory.
 
Franson led the Valiants with a triple and two doubles in her collegiate debut, while Diemicke had two hits, including a homer, while driving in two and scoring twice. Juniors Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) and Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer) homered as well for Manhattanville.
 
Manhattanville threatened in two of the first three innings thanks to extra-base hits from Franson, but diving catches from centerfielder Kayla Winkler took away run-scoring hits from Buboi in the first and classmate Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) in the third.
 
Fontbonne took advantage of two Valiant errors to score unearned four runs on just one hit in the top of the fourth inning, but Manhattanville stormed back in the bottom half with four of its own. Buboi and Torres started the inning with back-to-back solo homers to halve the lead, while Diemicke capitalized on a dropped foul ball to sock a two-run homer later in the at-bat to tie the score.
 
The Griffins threatened in the top of the fifth inning with a runner on third base with two outs, but Chapelone made a great diving play on a ball up the middle to rob Maddy Strickland and get out of the inning unscathed.
 
Diemicke struck again in the bottom of the sixth, leading off with a triple and subsequently scoring on a wild pitch. Franson added to the lead with a two-out double that scored Jedrey with an insurance run.
 
Senior Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) came on in relief to earn the win for Manhattanville, allowing one unearned run on one hit in 3.1 innings. Junior Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) got the start in the circle, allowing three unearned runs on three hits in 3.2 frames.
 
Manhattanville 11, Thomas More 5
 
The Valiants again dug out of an early hole in the second game game of the day, scoring in five of the seven innings in an 11-5 victory over Thomas More.
 
The bottom third of the order did much of the damage in the win, as the trio of senior Alexis Ventarola (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester) and freshmen Jordyn Boyd (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville) and Isela Casillas (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake) combined for seven runs batted in. Ventarola had two hits, three RBIs and two runs scored, while both Boyd and Casillas drove in a pair.
 
The Saints struck first with three runs in the bottom of the first, but the Valiants came back with four in the second and three in the third to take control. Bases-loaded walks to Ventarola and Franson and an RBI single by Chapelone aided the Valiant cause in the second, while a two-run triple from Ventarola and subsequent RBI base hit from Casillas did the damage in the third.
 
Boyd chipped in a run-scoring single in the fourth inning and then followed a Jedrey RBI double with another base hit in the sixth to widen the lead. Sophomore Steph Muller (Port Jervis, N.Y./Port Jervis) added a pinch-hit RBI double in the seventh to complete the scoring.
 
Feeney (2-0) picked up her second win of the day, allowing five runs (two earned) on 12 hits with five strikeouts in seven innings.
 
Manhattanville returns to the field for day two tomorrow, with the Valiants set to take on Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 10 a.m. (MST) and Pacific University at 12:30 p.m. (MST).