WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – The top-seeded Manhattanville College softball team broke through for five runs in the fifth and senior Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) took care of the rest as the Valiants defeated fourth-seeded King's (Pa.) College, 5-0, in game one of the 2018 MAC Freedom Softball Championships, hosted by King's at Robert L. Betzler Athletic Complex on Friday morning.
 
With the win, Manhattanville (22-13) advances into the winner's bracket, where they will play the winner of today's second game between second-seeded DeSales University and third-seeded Misericordia University at approximately 2:00 p.m. King's (20-19) falls into the loser's bracket and will face the DeSales-Misericordia loser in an elimination contest at approximately 4:00 p.m.
 
It was more of the same in the conference tournament for Feeney, as the two-time MAC Freedom Tournament Most Valuable Player allowed only two hits and struck out three in securing her fifth shutout of the year.
 
Freshman Isela Casillas (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake) paced the Valiants from the top of the order with two hits, a run batted in and a run scored, while graduate student Dolores Diemicke (North Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) and freshman Brooke Franson (Newport Beach, Calif./Corona del Mar) also had a pair of hits. Five different players drove in a run as part of the team's 11-hit attack.
 
The first threat of the game came in the top of the second after a one-out triple by the Monarchs' Kelcie Senchak, but sophomore Sam Jedrey (La Canada Flintridge, Calif./La Canada) snagged a hard grounder at third and Diemicke then threw home to get Senchak at the plate and end the inning.
 
After four scoreless innings, the floodgates finally opened for Manhattanville in the fifth when five runs came across. Junior Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) opened the inning with a double, and then the Valiants recorded seven straight hits with one out. Junior Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) started the scoring with an RBI single, followed by a run-scoring triple off the bat of Franson and a double from Casillas. Juniors Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) and Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer) added RBI singles as well during the seven-batter run that gave the Valiants a 5-0 lead after five.
 
That was more than enough for Feeney, who retired the final nine batters of the game to pick up her 13th win of the year.