CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – The Manhattanville College softball team had its 23-game MAC Freedom winning streak abruptly halted on Saturday afternoon, as the Valiants dropped both ends of a conference doubleheader to DeSales University by the scores of 7-4 and 6-5 at the DSU Softball Field.
 
Freshman Ali Orduna (Orange, Calif./Villa Park) led Manhattanville (9-9, 2-2 MAC Freedom) at the plate with three hits and two runs scored in four at-bats, while classmate Isela Casillas (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake) drove in a team-leading three runs and was one of three Valiants with four hits on the day.
 
Game 1: DeSales 7, Manhattanville 4
 
Manhattanville fell behind early in the first game of the day, then gave away the lead in the bottom of the sixth after rallying to tie the score in the top half to suffer a 7-4 defeat.
 
DeSales (9-9, 6-2 MAC Freedom) scored twice in the bottom of the first and added an unearned run in the third to take an early 3-0 lead. The Valiant bats were silent for five innings against DSU starter Hailey Warner before finally waking up in the sixth, when RBI singles from Casillas and senior Alexis Ventarola (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester) helped to knot the score at three.
 
But the lead did not last long, as three Valiant errors contributed to four unearned runs coming home all with two outs in the bottom half. The Valiants got one run back in the top of the seventh on an RBI grounder from freshman Jordyn Boyd (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville), but that was all the visitors could muster.
 
Senior Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) suffered the loss for Manhattanville, allowing only two earned runs on 10 hits while striking out seven in six innings.
 
Game 2: DeSales 6, Manhattanville 5
 
The sixth proved to be the unlucky inning again for Manhattanville in game two, as the Valiants battled back to tie the game in the top half only to see DeSales take the lead for good in the bottom half of a 6-5 loss.
 
Manhattanville grabbed the first lead of the day in the top of the fourth thanks to a run-scoring grounder from junior Alexa Grniet (Morristown, N.J./Morristown), but DeSales came back with four runs in the bottom of the frame to quickly take back the lead. The Valiants chipped away at the deficit, getting an RBI single from Casillas in the fifth and then another RBI base hit from Casillas in the sixth that allowed two runs to score.
 
But with the game tied at four, the bottom of the sixth struck again for DeSales, as the Bulldogs pulled ahead thanks to a wild pitch with the bases loaded and an infield single that plated an insurance run. That run became huge in the top of the seventh after a solo homer from graduate student Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge), as the Valiants eventually loaded the bases but could not push across the tying run.
 
Junior Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) took the loss in game two, allowing six runs on 10 hits in 5.1 innings.
 
Manhattanville will look to quickly right the ship tomorrow, as the Valiants host King's (Pa.) College for a big MAC Freedom doubleheader at Manhattanville Field starting at 1 p.m.