LOS ANGELES, CA – The Manhattanville College softball team swept its third doubleheader in four days on its season-opening California trip, knocking off the Occidental College Tigers 4-1 and 10-3 Wednesday, March 13.

Senior Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) led the Manhattanville (6-0) offense in game 1, driving in three runs while hitting one of two home runs for the team, classmate Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer) launching the other. In the circle, graduate student Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) allowed one run on six hits, improving to 3-0 on the season. The Valiants bats came alive in game 2, as every starter finished with at least one hit, led by a 3-for-4 performance from freshman Giovanna Liggett (Fountain Valley, Calif./Edison). Bailey Stevens finished the twin-bill 2-for-4 with a pair of walks and Kira Elliott had a two-run triple in game 2 for Occidental (1-12).

GAME 1

Three batters in, Buboi put Manhattanville up 2-0 with her first home run of the year. After Feeney stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, Torres launched her first of the season in the top of the third, putting the Valiants up 3-0.

After a pair of 1-2-3 innings for Feeney in the third and fourth, with one out and runners on the corner in the top of the fifth, Buboi drove in her third run of the day, singling home sophomore Isela Casillas (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake). Feeney fell one out shy of her second shutout of the year when Madison Romero singled in the Tigers lone run of the opener with two out in the bottom of the seventh.

GAME 2

Manhattanville took 1-0 and 3-1 leads in the second game, but Occidental came back to tie on both occasions.

With the score still tied 3-3 entering the top of the sixth, Manhattanville's offense exploded. With the bases loaded and nobody out, senior Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) broke the tie with a single to left. Junior pinch-hitter Sam Jedrey reached on a run-scoring error, before sophomore Brook Franson broke the game open with a two-run double to right field; both Jedrey and Franson later scored when freshman Maddie Saunders (Oxnard, Calif./Santa Clara) reached on an error. Liggett capped off the scoring with a single to left field. In all, Manhattanville put its first eight batters of the inning on and scored seven times, its biggest inning of the season.

Senior Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) improved to 3-0, going six innings in the circle, in addition to her 1-for-3 performance at the plate.

The Valiants close out their California trip tomorrow, Thursday March 14, in Riverside against the La Sierra University Golden Eagles. The doubleheader is slated to begin at 3 p.m. EST.