PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University softball team closed out the 2024 regular season on Tuesday afternoon, dropping a pair of contests against visiting Moravian University. The Valiants head into the Skyline Conference Championship Tournament on Thursday with a 28-10 overall record.

Game One Recap: Manhattanville 2, Moravian 10
An uncharacteristic seven defensive errors doomed the Valiants in the opener against the Greyhounds.

Manhattanville struck first in the bottom half of the opening frame as Samantha Walsh (Spring City, Pa./Owen J Roberts) drove in Isabella Tansey (San Diego, Calif./University City) following her leadoff triple. Moravian responded in the second with back-to-back solo homers off the bats of Emily Silberman and Ajala Elmore put the Greyhounds in front. The homers brought an end to Charli Shinstine's (Encinitas, Calif./San Dieguito Academy) streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run at 76 straight frames.

Moravian added three more runs in the third as Lindsey Gawrys hit a two-run blast and Sage Snyder scored on a stolen base and pair of throwing errors to put the visiting team up 5-1.

While Shinstine held the Greyhound offense in check across the next two innings, Moravian blew the game open on Marcie Silberman's grand slam that was put in motion following a pair of Valiant errors. The Greyhounds tacked on one more in the seventh on Sarah DeStefano's single that plated Sydney Andrews following her triple.

The Valiants' other run of the game came in the sixth as Amaya Esparza (San Diego, Calif./Granite Hills) dropped in a single to left field to score Isabella Tansey (San Diego, Calif./University City).

Manhattanville finished with seven hits in the contest, with Esparza logging the lone multi-hit effort.

Shinstine fell to 13-6 on the year with the loss as she allowed five runs (four earned) in her five innings, giving up four hits and three walks while striking out five. Jori Wilkendorf (Livermore, Calif./Livermore) pitched the final two frames, allowing five unearned runs on four hits while striking out two without issuing a walk.

Game Two Recap: Manhattanville 2, Moravian 3
A seventh-inning rally led the Greyhounds to the doubleheader sweep as Moravian plated two runs on three hits and an error in their final at-bats to earn the win.

With the Valiants up 2-1 with one out, Moravian used a pair of singles to get the tying run home as Holly Walter singled to center field to plate DeStefano. The Valiants looked to get out of the inning with the game tied after a fly out and a potential inning-ending popup, but the ball was dropped, allowing Shayla Morgan to score all the way from second with the go-ahead run. Manhattanville couldn't mount a response in the bottom half as the team dropped consecutive games for the first time since March 22-26.

The inning soured what was otherwise a fantastic pitching performance out of Emily Mottoshiski (Craryville, N.Y./Taconic Hills). The junior allowed only the one earned run in the seventh, with her final line reading three total runs on eight hits with one walk and a pair of strikeouts. Mottoshiski enters the Skyline Tournament 12-3 overall with her ERA sitting at 2.67.

As was the case in Game One, the Valiants opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first. Walsh reached base on a one-out single, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved up to third on a bunt single by Juliana Parkes (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada/Belmont Secondary). Esparza cashed in with a sacrifice fly to right to bring Walsh home with the opening run.

An inning later, Samantha Reyer (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) mashed her fourth home run of the season with a leadoff blast to extend the Valiants lead up to 2-0.

The Greyhounds scored their first run in the third, once again capitalizing on a Valiant error. With the bases loaded and one away, Marcie Silberman hit a comebacker to the circle that couldn't be fielded cleanly by Mottoshiski, bouncing into no man's land in the infield. Morgan scored from third on the play, while Walter attempted to advance a pair of bases as the ball rolled in the dirt. Sydni Brooks (Anaheim, Calif./Cypress) gathered the loose ball and fired home to Esparza to gun down the would-be tying runner.

The Valiants were unable to build upon their one-run lead, being limited to one hit across innings three through six. After falling behind in the seventh, Cadi Sickler laced a two-out double to center but was tagged out on the relay throw as she tried to stretch it into a triple to bring the game to an end.

Manhattanville finished with five hits, all coming from different batters. Esparza added a single in the fourth.

Up Next
The Valiants head to Farmingdale for the double elimination portion of the Skyline Conference Championship Tournament, having clinched a first round bye with their earning of the No. 2 seed. Manhattanville will take on the winner of No. 6 Mount Saint Vincent and No. 3 Saint Joseph's Brooklyn on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Single game tickets and three-day passes are now available for purchase through the Skyline Conference HERE.

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