NEWBURGH, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College softball team settled for a split on Wednesday in a non-conference doubleheader with Mount St. Mary College. The Valiants took game one, 4-0, behind a shutout from senior Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster), but dropped game two by an 8-7 score.
 
Graduate student Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) had a team-high five hits and three runs batted in in seven at-bats to lead Manhattanville (16-12). She also had one of the team's four home runs on the day, as she and junior Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer) both moved into a tie for the team lead with six long balls on the year.
 
Game 1: Manhattanville 4, Mount St. Mary 0
 
The first six innings were a pitchers' duel between Feeney and Mount St. Mary's Cindy Connoly, but the Valiants finally broke through with four runs in the seventh to secure the 4-0 win.
 
Connoly retired the Valiants in order in each of the first four innings before Diemicke broke up the no-hit bid with a leadoff single to start the fifth. Feeney, meanwhile, matched Connoly zero-for-zero through the first six innings to keep her team in the game. She got a strikeout with two on base in the second and a groundout to end the fourth with a runner on third, and in the fifth she snagged a comeback to end another MSMC rally.
 
The Manhattanville bats finally exploded in the seventh inning, hitting three home runs as part of a four-run frame. After junior Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) led off with a double, Diemicke broke the ice with a two-run homer and then Torres made it back-to-back long balls. Junior Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) added her first four-bagger of the year with two outs to complete the Valiant scoring.
 
MSMC loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, but Feeney got a strikeout of her counterpart Connoly to end the game and preserve the 23rd shutout of her career, matching Maggie Thomas '07 for the school's all-time record. The senior struck out five and scattered seven hits in the 54th win of her career, moving her into a tie for second place on the school's all-time list alongside Alyssa Taylor '14.
 
Game 2: Mount St. Mary 8, Manhattanville 7
 
The Valiants could not hold an early lead in the second game of the day, as the Knights scraped across the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning in an 8-7 win.
 
Diemicke had three hits to lead the Valiant offensive attack in game two, while Buboi and sophomore Sam Jedrey (La Canada Flintridge, Calif./La Canada) both drove in a pair of runs.
 
The Valiant offense started much earlier in game two, with Diemicke and junior Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) delivering RBI singles in the top of the first. After the Knights got two runs back off sophomore Steph Muller (Port Jervis, N.Y./Port Jervis) in the third, the visitors came right back with three in the top of the fourth to regain the lead, as Jedrey scored on a wild pitch and Buboi singled home a pair.
 
Mount St. Mary rallied against Muller and Hartenstein in the fourth, getting an RBI single and then a grand slam by Kathryn Eiler to put the home team ahead for the first time all day. However, the lead lasted only two batters into the next inning, as freshman Jordyn Boyd (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville) led off with a single and came home on a Jedrey two-run homer.
 
The Knights staged a rally to win it in the bottom of the seventh, however, as a one-out single eventually led to a walk-off pinch-hit single by Lauren Oury.
 
Muller took a no-decision after allowing five runs on eight hits in 3.2 innings, while Hartenstein suffered the loss after conceding the final three runs on four hits in 3.0 innings of work.
 
Manhattanville will return to MAC Freedom play on Saturday with two games at Misericordia University beginning at 1 p.m.