PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville College softball team celebrated out the final Senior Day of the year in victorious fashion, sweeping Saturday's doubleheader with SUNY Old Westbury. The pair of wins improves Manhattanville's record on the year to 22-14 overall and 14-2 in Skyline Conference play.
Prior to first pitch on the day, the Valiants honored
Giovanna Liggett (Huntington Beach, Calif./Edison), the team's lone member of the Class of 2022. Manhattanville's offensive leader for the season continued to rake with another four hits across the two games, driving in six runs and scoring four.
With the victory in Game Two, Head Coach
Dale Martin earned his 400
th win as the manager of Manhattanville softball. Across 16 seasons with Manhattanville, Coach Martin has been the winningest coach in school history with Saturday's milestone being the latest of a highly decorated career.
Game One Recap: Manhattanville 11, Old Westbury 3 (Six Innings)
Plating five runs in the bottom of the sixth, the Valiants enacted the run rule to earn the victory in the opener.
After a scoreless first, the Valiants got on the board in the second as a
Melissa Lopez (Whittier, Calif./California) double brought home
Rachel Coleman (Lake Forest, Calif./Mission Viejo) with the first run of the day. An inning later, Liggett celebrated her Senior Day with a two-run home run, her ninth of the year that put the Valiants up 3-0 through three innings of play.
Manhattanville got back on the board in the fifth as
Amaya Esparza (Descansco, Calif./Granite Hills) went yard with a three-run shot, her eighth homer of the season that gave the home team a 6-0 cushion entering the fifth.
After making her way through the first five innings unscathed, Manhattanville starter
Charli Shinstine (Encinitas, Calif./San Dieguito Academy) ran into trouble in the sixth. A leadoff walk came around to score after a Morgan Albright single and a Hillary Bennett double to get the Panthers on the board. Both runners would score after Shinstine departed, leaving her with three runs charged to her ledger on four hits and six walks. The junior struck out 10 batters before leaving, moving her season total to 167, 11 shy of the single-season record.
Emily Mottoshiski (Craryville, N.Y./Taconic Hills) took over in the circle, and after giving up a two-run single to Jessica Tucci, the rookie got three quick outs to get the bats back up to the plate, now leading 6-3.
A pair of walks and a
Jayleen Torres (Downey, Calif./Downey) single loaded the bases with nobody away in the bottom of the sixth. Liggett cashed in with a single to center to plate Mottoshiski, before Esparza reached on an error that brought Torres home. Â Coleman then laced a double down the right field line to plate two more runs before Lopez brought home the walk-off run after getting hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Game Two Recap: Manhattanville 9, Old Westbury 0 (Five Innings)
Mottoshiski went right back to work for Game Two, tossing a complete game shutout to earn her eighth win of the year as the Valiants completed the sweep.
It was another win via run rule as the Valiants took the abbreviated game in five innings as Mottoshiski pitched an extremely efficient game. The rookie needed just 72 pitches to get through the five inning affair, allowing three hits and no walks while striking out 10. It was Mottoshiski's second game of her career reaching double-digit strikeouts after her 11 punchouts on April 10 against Sarah Lawrence.
As Mottoshiski kept the Panther bats quiet, the Valiants picked up right where the left off in the opener, as the home team scored three runs in each of the first three innings. After Torres led off with a single and a
Samantha Walsh (Spring City, Pa./Owen J Roberts) double put a pair in scoring position, it was Liggett once again delivering a bit hit, dropping a single into left that brought both runs home. The senior then scored on a Coleman groundout following Esparza's double to give the Valiants the early 3-0 lead.
Shinstine and Mottoshiski hit back-to-back singles to begin the second, with the duo advancing up a base on a dropped infield fly before Shinstine scored on a wild pitch. Mottoshiski scored two batters later on a Liggett fielder's choice, while Walsh reached on a walk, stole second and scored on a passed ball to double the home team's lead.
The offensive kept chugging along for three more runs in the third. Mottoshiski helped herself out with a double that brought home Lopez before the Valiant starter scored alongside Shinsine on Torres' single, advancing the lead to 9-0.
Mottoshiski allowed just one hit over the final three innings, a fifth inning double by Rosanna Cuttone. Outside of the two-bagger, the rookie retired the last eight batters she saw via strikeout as the Valiants began the final weekend of the regular season with a pair of convincing wins.
Up Next
The Valiants wrap up the regular season tomorrow with a twin bill at Purchase starting at noon.
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