EWING, N.J. – The Manhattanville College softball team was swept on the road on Saturday, dropping both ends of the doubleheader at The College of New Jersey. The two losses (12-9, 5-2) will drop the Valiants to 3-9 on the season.
Game One Recap: Manhattanville 9, TCNJ 12
Manhattanville scored first, but nine unanswered Lion runs was too much for the Valiants to fight back from in the opener.
Jayleen Torres (Downey, Calif./Downey) had three hits and scored three runs, while
Giovanna Liggett (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison) had the only Manhattanville extra base hit of the opener with a double. Liggett and
Emily Mottoshiski (Craryville, N.Y./Taconic Hills) both had a pair of RBIs.
Liggett's double in the first scored Torres, but the Lions answered with a run of their own in the bottom half. The score held at 1-1 until the third, when Kayla Hillenbrand drilled a bases loaded double to left field to plate three runs. Five more TCNJ runs came across to score in the fifth inning, spelling an end to
Charli Shinstine's (Encinitas, Calif./San Dieguito Academy) start through 3.2 innings. The junior was charged with six earned runs on nine hits while striking out five, taking the loss.
Despite being down eight runs entering the fifth, the Valiants showed their resilience and fought back into the game. Manhattanville hung four runs on the board in the fifth, using a pair of hits and four Lions errors to make it a contest again.
Melissa Lopez (Whittier, Calif./California) earned the only RBI of the frame with a single that scored Liggett.
After the Lions got a run back in the bottom of the fifth, Manhattanville score four more to open up the sixth. This time with no TCNJ errors to benefit from, three straight singles to start the inning put the Valiants in action. Liggett hit a sacrifice fly that scored Torres before Samatha Walsh scored two batters later on a wild pitch. With the bases loaded, Mottoshiski singled through the right side to bring home
Rachel Coleman (Lake Forest, Calif./Mission Viejo) and
Sarah Harker (Irvine, Calif./Irvine), making it a one rune game again at 10-9.
The Lions got some crucial insurance runs in the form of the long ball, as Victoria Aspiazu drilled a two run homer off of Mottoshiski to put the Lions up by three. The Valiants were retired in order in the seventh to bring an end to the wild game. Mottoshiski was solid in relief of Shinstine in the circle, allowing five hits across 2.1 innings and allowing just one earned run.
Game Two Recap: Manhattanville 2, TCNJ 5
In a bit of a more conventional game, Shinstine was right back to work as the starter for the backend of the doubleheader. The junior tossed a complete six innings, allowing six hits and five runs (three earned) with five walks and four strikeouts.
Ally Schlee was effective in quieting the Manhattanville bats with a complete game of her own, allowing two runs on five hits. The Lions starter got 15 groundouts to limit the damage done by the Valiants.
A Lauren Conroy two-run homer in the first put the home team up with a lead they would not surrender. While Liggett responded with a home run of her own, her fourth of the season, in the top of the second, a sac fly RBI in the bottom half reestablished the two run lead for TCNJ.
The Lions tacked on another in the third before the Valiants plated a run in the fourth. Harker opened up the inning with a single, advancing to second on a groundout and stealing third. She would score on an Esparza groundout, but the Valiants would be unable to pull any closer. The Lions added one more run in the fifth, while the Valiants were only able to get two more baserunners the rest of the way as Schlee earned the win.
Up Next
The Valiants play their third doubleheader in as many days tomorrow, kicking off conference play against Yeshiva. Manhattanville will serve as the road team in the doubleheader being played on the Manhattanville campus, with game one scheduled for noon.
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