PURCHASE, N.Y. -- Another chapter was added to the incredible season of the 2023 Manhattanville College softball team on Saturday as the team celebrated Senior Day with a doubleheader sweep of the College of Mount Saint Vincent. The wins will extend the team's winning streak up to 28 straight as the Valiants improve to 32-4 overall and 16-0 in the Skyline entering the final weekend of the regular season tomorrow.
Prior to first pitch of Game One, the team celebrated the Class of 2023 –
Jayleen Torres (Bellflower, Calif./Downey),
Sarah Harker (Irvine, Calif./Irvine),
Abby Tanuma (Chula Vista, Calif./Cathedral Catholic) and
Charli Shinstine (Encinitas, Calif./San Dieguito Academy) – for their contributions to the program. It was an extra special day for Shinstine as she was awarded the Manhattanville College Female Athlete of the Year. The ace showed why she was worthy of the distinction as she immediately took to the circle and fired the eighth perfect game in program history, the first of her career.
Game One Recap: Manhattanville 20, Mount Saint Vincent 0 (Five Innings)
The bats smacked four home runs in support of Shinstine's perfect game as the Valiants rolled out to a 20-0 run-rule win in the opener.
It was 15 up, 15 down for Shinstine who was finally able to add a perfect game to her incredible season highlights after flirting with perfection numerous times throughout the season. The senior ace was absolutely dominant as she recorded 11 of her 15 outs by strikeout while retiring the only four Dolphins able to put balls in play via ground outs. Shinstine becomes the first Valiant to toss a perfect game since 2021 when Kylie Pester pitched one in a five inning game against Purchase.
While run support was far from necessary the way Shinstine was dealing on Saturday, the offense came to play in the opener as Manhattanville scored a season-high 20 runs on 20 hits. After being held hitless in the first, the Valiants blew the doors open with an 11 run, nine hit second inning.
Melissa Lopez (Whittier, Calif./California) delivered the keynote with a three run homer with one out, her first deep fly of the season. Torres took some inspiration from the sophomore as she hit a solo shot of her own in the following at bat to move the score to 4-0. It was also Torres' first homer of the year.
The Valiants were far from done as two batters later, Harker drove a double to center to plate
Olivia Fasce (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown). A pair of walks loaded the bases, allowing
Juliana Parkes (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada/Belmont Secondary) to plate the sixth run with a sacrifice fly to center.
Sydni Brooks (Anaheim, Calif./Cypress) brought home another run on a double before Samantha Reye cleared the bases with a two run single. That brought Lopez back up to the plate for the second time in the inning as she crushed another ball over the fence in left center for her second bomb of the inning, delivering the final blow of the 11-run frame.
Manhattanville went right back on the offensive an inning later with another six runs on eight more hits. Harker led off with a single and stole second, easily scoring on
Amaya Esparza's (Descanso, Calif./Granite Hills) single. The Valiant catcher came home as Walsh doubled in the following at-bat. Two batters later, the Valiants hit their fourth homer of the game as Reyer went yard, a three run shot that would be her fourth of the season to extend the lead up to 16-0. Cadi Sickler would get in on the action later in the inning as a pinch hitter, lining a hit back to the pitcher that couldn't be handled to score Lopez with the 17
th run of the day.
In the fourth, Fasce drove in Gonzales with an RBI single before Harker wrapped up the inning with a two run single that scored Lopez and
Ruby Wilson (Merrimack, N.H./Bishop Guertin).
Every batter in the starting line up collected an RBI and scored a run in the dominant win. In total, Reyer and Lopez finished with five RBI apiece. The Valiants hit eight extra base hits and stole four bases.
Shinstine would close out her historic effort with a ground out before striking out the final two batters she faced to further etch her name throughout the program record book. She moves just 15 strikeouts shy of the program record for career punchouts while her ERA drops to a staggering 0.69 on the year.
Game Two Recap: Manhattanville 2, Mount Saint Vincent 0
A far cry from the offensive clinic the Valiants held in the opener, Manhattanville outlasted the Dolphins in a pitcher's duel to complete the sweep and carry their win streak into the final day of the regular season.
Emily Mottoshiski (Craryville, N.Y./Taconic Hills) tossed a gem as she threw a seven inning complete game one-hit shutout. The sophomore only issued one walk as the Valiants completed the day allowing just two baserunners across the pair of contests. Mottoshiski struck out three in the win as she was able to keep the ball on the dirt, inducing 14 ground outs.
After Mottoshiski set down the side in order in the top of the first, the Valiants plated a run in their opening at bats. With two away, Harker lined a single up the middle before Esparza drove a double to dead center. The speedy Harker scored from first with what would prove to be the winning run.
The Valiants would be unable to do any damage with their lone hits in the second and the third before scratching out an insurance run in the fourth. Esparza led off with her second double of the contest before advancing to third on a Walsh ground out.
Isabella Tansey (San Diego, Calif./University City) cashed in with the runner in scoring position, dropping a single in to left field to allow Esparza to score an extend the lead to 2-0.
The Dolphins drew a walk in the third and got a one-out single in the fourth, but that would be all in the way of traffic on the basepaths against Mottoshiski. She retired the last 11 batters she faced to improve to 13-4 on the year. Her ERA falls below 3.00 for the first time this season, now holding at 2.85.
Up Next
The Valiants have one final test awaiting them ahead of next week's Skyline Conference Championship Tournament. The top two teams in the conference square off to close out the regular season tomorrow as Manhattanville heads to Long Island to take on Farmingdale in a noon doubleheader.
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