PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College softball team saw six of its team members play the final regular-season games of their career Saturday afternoon, April 27, as the Valiants picked up two more Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom victories at home over DeSales University.
 
Manhattanville (37-2, 13-1 MACF) picked up a pair of victories over the Bulldogs (16-22, 8-6 MACF) and head into next weekend's MAC Freedom Championship as the top overall seed. The Valiants are also just four wins shy of tying the program record of 41, set back in 2016 when they advanced all the way to the NCAA Super Regionals.
 
Game 1
Things moved quickly in the first contest of the day as the Valiants bested DeSales in five innings, taking just over an hour to complete. Senior Aarin Hartenstein (Massapequa, N.Y./Plainedge) got the start in the circle and went 5.0 innings for the complete-game, one-hit shutout and struck out two.
 
After a scoreless first inning, the Valiants broke the game open in the bottom half of the second with six runs. Senior Evonne Torres (Hacienda Heights, Calif./Pioneer) led off with an infield single to third and was immediately plated thanks to a no-doubt home run to right centerfield off the bat of Hartenstein to make it 2-0 – it was her ninth homer of the season and 34th of her career, as she continues to raise the all-time mark she set last week. Later in the inning with one out and the bases loaded, an error by the Bulldog pitcher led to a pair of runs scoring for Manhattanville to make it 4-0. The following at-bat, rookie Giovanna Liggett (Fountain Valley, Calif./Edison) plated a pair with a two-run double to left centerfield and it was now 6-0 heading into the third.
 
After a scoreless inning, Manhattanville made noise once again in the bottom of the fourth. With runners on first and second and one out, senior Desiree Buboi (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) hit a bases-clearing double to left centerfield to make it 8-0. With two outs, following a wild pitch, sophomore Jordyn Boyd (Woodinville, Wash./Woodinville) was at-bat with two runners in scoring position and the leftfield proceeded to hit a two-run single to left for the final two runs of the game and make it 10-0.
 
Game 2
Graduate student Alycia Feeney (Brewster, N.Y./Brewster) took to the circle for the second game of the day and also tossed a complete game. She went 6.0 innings and allowed just two earned runs while striking out four. DeSales began the scoring with an RBI double in the top of the first to take the early 1-0 lead, but the Valiants quickly answered in the bottom half with four run. With runners on second and third and no outs, the Bulldogs pitcher threw a wild pitch which allowed sophomore Isela Casillas (Chula Vista, Calif./Eastlake) to score from third to tie it. Then, Buboi grounded out to second but drove in Liggett on the play and it was 2-1. Then, Torres and Hartenstein went back-to-back to make it 4-1. Torres now has 13 home runs this season – just two shy of tying the single-season program mark – while Hartenstein has now brought the career program record up to 35.
 
The Valiants scratched one more across in the bottom of the second when Liggett hit a two-out single to right to plate graduate student Alexis Ventarola (Eastchester, N.Y./Eastchester) to make it 5-1. Manhattanville put one more on the board in the home half of the third as well, thanks to a run-scoring infield single to second from Ventarola to plate Hartenstein.
 
After a scoreless fourth, the Valiants scored twice in the fifth thanks to a double down the leftfield line from Liggett and an infield RBI single to short from Feeney – it was her second RBI of the season and second of her career.
 
The Bulldogs scratched a run across in the top of the sixth to make it a six-run deficit, but Manhattanville was able to score the necessary two runs in the home half to end the game via the eight-run mercy rule. With no outs and the bases loaded, Boyd hit a "walk-off" double to left center to plate Hartenstein and junior Steph Muller (Port Jervis, N.Y./Port Jervis) for the 10-2 victory in six innings.
 
Manhattanville will now take the week off before resuming play in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., for the 2019 MAC Freedom Championship, which follows a double elimination format. The Valiants are the No. 1 seed and will once again take on DeSales – the fourth seed – in game one Friday morning, May 3, at 10:00 a.m. The winner will face the victor of game two between No. 2 Misericordia University and No. 3 Wilkes University in game three at 2:00 p.m., while the loser of games one and two will face off in game four at 4:00 p.m. Play will resume Saturday morning, May 4, with at least two more contests to determine the conference champion.