PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College softball team, ranked No. 14 in the most recent National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Top 25 Division III Poll, extended is season start to 10 straight unbeaten games with a doubleheader sweep Wednesday afternoon, March 20, in the Valiants' home-opener versus Albertus Magnus College.
 
Game 1 – Manhattanville 17, Albertus Magnus 1 (five innings)
 
Graduate student Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) picked up her third victory in the circle on the season in game one, tossing five innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts. Multiple Valiant batters hammered the ball at the plate early on as well.
 
Manhattanville (10-0) scored 15 of its 17 runs over the Falcons (4-6) in the bottom of the first inning, kick-started by back-to-back-to-back-to-back – four straight – home runs by the Valiants' fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh hitters to make it 7-0 with no outs. After senior second baseman Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) notched an RBI single to center, senior catcher Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer) got it started with a three-run shot over the centerfield fence. Three solo homers over the centerfield wall followed, from sophomore leftfielder Jordyn Boyd (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville), senior designated player Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) and senior shortstop Sophia Chapelone (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon).
 
The rookie third baseman Giovanna Liggett (Fountain Valley, Calif./Edison) was next to register some offense with a bases-loaded, two-run single up the middle to make it 9-0. Torres got to the plate once again and sent a sac fly to left, and two at-bats later, Hartenstein recorded and RBI single to right. Chapelone then notched a one-run double to right, followed by a two-run double to right-center from graduate student right fielder Alexis Ventarola (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester). Sophomore first baseman Brooke Farnson closed the scoring for the inning with a single up the middle to plate Ventarola and make it 15-0 at the time.
 
After several defensive changes and a few scoreless innings, the Valiants scratched across two more runs in the home half of the fourth thanks to a two-run double from rookie right fielder Madison Saunders with two outs to make it 17-0. Albertus Magnus got its one and only run across in the top of the fifth, but at the end of the half inning, the Valiants came away with the victory.
 
Game 2 – Manhattanville 16, Albertus Magnus 2 (five innings)
 
Hartenstein got the start in this one and notched her fourth win of the season with 5.0 innings pitched. She allowed two runs, but none earned, and struck out three Falcon batters. Torres led the way with four RBIs and launched her second homer of the day as well.
 
After a scoreless inning number one, Albertus Magnus struck first and plated two unearned runs following a passed ball thanks to a two-run, two-out single. The Valiants exploded in the bottom half of the second, however, plating 10 runs.
 
Chapelone started with an RBI single up the middle, followed by another run-scoring single up the middle from Franson. Sophomore center fielder Isella Casillas notched her first RBIs of the day with a two-run single to right to give Manhattanville its first lead of the game at 4-2. Then, with two outs, Torres snuck an RBI single through the left side, followed by a big first-pitch double to score one from Hartenstein. Two runs then scored following a throwing error on the Falcon shortstop, and another pair scored followed a fielding error on the Albertus Magnus right fielder – 10-2 Valiants after two innings.
 
Manhattanville scored four more in the home half of the third thanks to sophomore Ali Orduna's (Orange, Calif./Villa Park) RBI double to left center. Torres the left an exclamation point with a three-run shot to center once again to make it 14-2. The Valiants got two more in the next inning, a pair of RBI singles from Orduna and rookie Julia Bucci (Rye Brook, N.Y./Blind Brook) to close out the scoring before taking the 14-run win.
 
The unbeaten Valiants kick off Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom play this weekend when they travel to Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for a doubleheader at King's College (Pa.) Saturday afternoon, March 23, beginning at 1:00 p.m.