ITHACA, N.Y. – Freshman
Isela Casillas (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake) made a spectacular diving catch with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the third-seeded Manhattanville College softball team past second-seeded Ramapo College of New Jersey, 3-1, in game one of the Ithaca, New York Regional of the NCAA Div. III Softball Championships, held at Ithaca College's Doris Kostrinsky Field on Friday afternoon.
With the victory, Manhattanville (25-14) advances into the winner's bracket, where the team will face the winner of today's second game between top-seeded Ithaca and fourth-seeded Bay Path University tomorrow at 11 a.m., weather permitting. Ramapo (25-14) will face the Ithaca-Bay Path loser in an elimination game tomorrow at 1:30 p.m.
Casillas was the hero for the Valiants, saving the game with a highlight-reel catch to end the contest. With the bases loaded, two outs and the Valiants holding a two-run lead, Ramapo's Shannon Cox hit a rope into the left-centerfield gap, but Casillas raced over and laid out to made the full-extension grab and end the game.
The freshman also had a solid game at the plate for the Valiants, going 1-for-2 with a run batted in and two walks. Junior
Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) and sophomore
Sam Jedrey (La Canada Flintridge, Calif./La Canada) both drove in a run and scored once for Manhattanville as well.
The first inning did not start well for senior
Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) thanks to a leadoff triple, but the righthander buckled down to get a strikeout and two pop-outs to escape unscathed.
Seizing on that momentum, the Valiants came back to the plate in the top of the second and plated three runs to grab the first lead. Junior
Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) started the rally with a leadoff single, then came all the way around on an RBI double by Jedrey. Chapelone and Casillas added run-scoring singles as well to put the Valiants up by three.
Ramapo got one run back in the bottom of the third on an RBI single from Jackie Howarth, but Feeney again avoided further damage thanks to a big strikeout of her counterpart Christina Brizek with two in scoring position that kept the Valiants up 3-1 after three.
Neither team cracked the scoreboard over the next three innings, with Feeney and Brizek allowing just one hit apiece. Two singles and an error loaded the bases with one out for Ramapo in the seventh, but Feeney induced a harmless fly to center that was a much easier catch than the one Casillas would make seconds later.
