PURCHASE, N.Y. – Playing an unconventional road game on their home field, the Manhattanville University softball team swept Purchase College on Monday afternoon with a pair of 15-0 victories to close out the Skyline Conference regular season. The Valiants head into playoff week with a 28-8 overall record after going 17-1 in conference play, finishing as the No. 2 seed and earning a first-round bye into the double elimination finals starting on Thursday.

Game One Recap: Manhattanville 15, Purchase 0 (Five Innings)
A six-run second inning was more than enough run support for the Valiants in the opener as the Panthers were limited to just one hit offensively in Game One of Monday's action.

The crooked number was cooked up on four hits, an error, a walk and a hit by pitch. Juliana Parkes (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada/Belmont Secondary) drew a one-out walk and scored the game's first run on Samantha Reyer's (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) triple. Reyer came home two batters later on Olivia Fasce's (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) infield single before Samantha Walsh (Spring City, Pa./Owen J Roberts) drove in a pair with a double to plate Alexa Lazur (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) and Fasce. Sarah Harker (Irvine, Calif./Irvine) closed things out with a two-run homer to put the Valiants up big through the first two innings.

After tacking on a run in the third on Isabella Tansey's (San Diego, Calif./University City) sacrifice fly that scored Reyer, the Valiants hung on three more in the fourth. Amaya Esparza (San Diego, Calif./Granite Hills) drilled an RBI single to score Harker, who led off the frame with a walk and steal of second. Esparza later score following a Panther error, while Cadi Sickler put the Valiants up 10-0 with an RBI on a fielder's choice that allowed Rachel Coleman (Lake Forest, Calif./Mission Viejo) to score.

To cap off the opener, Manhattanville added five runs in their final turns at bat. After Walsh reached on a fielder's choice and scored on the result of an error, Esparza delivered the Valiant's second homer of the day, a two-run shot to extend the lead up to 13-0. Lazur notched an RBI single to plate Madison Gonzales (Azusa, Calif./Sacred Heart) before Sydni Brooks (Anaheim, Calif./Cypress) came home with run no. 15 following the Panthers' fourth error of the day.

Charli Shinstine (Encinitas, Calif./San Dieguito Academy) logged her 13^th win of the year as she tossed the first four innings in the start, allowing just one hit and a pair of walks while striking out eight. Jori Wilkendorf (Livermore, Calif./Livermore) pitched a perfect fifth inning, striking out one.

Harker went 3-for-3 at the dish with three runs scored and a pair of RBI, while Esparza finished with a pair of hits of her own.

Game Two Recap: Manhattanville 15, Purchase 0
A score so nice they did it twice as the second game on the day was more of the same for the Valiants as the bats delivered 14 hits while the arms effectively silenced the Panthers.

Harker and Parkes notched RBI in the first frame to spot the Valiants an early 2-0 lead. Sickler and Walsh scored, respectively, on the plays.

Three hits and three errors led to five more Valiant runs in the top of the second. With the bases loaded, Reyer scored on an error, Sickler drove home Lazur with an RBI single, and Fasce scored following Walsh's at-bat that allowed the second baseman to reach following a defensive misplay. Esparza plated Sickler on an RBI groundout before Walsh scored on a wild pitch, putting the Valiants up 7-0.

A two-run double of the bat of Harker accounted for all the Valiant scoring across the next two innings before the offense teed off for six more runs in the fifth. Walsh hit an RBI single to score Fasce before Parkes stepped in to the box three batters later with a two-run double. Brooks delivered the final blow with a three-run home run to put Manhattanville up by 15 for the second time on the day.

On the other side of the field, it was another strong pitching performance for the Vals. Emily Mottoshiski (Craryville, N.Y./Taconic Hills) improved to 12-2 with her win, pitching the first four innings where she allowed just two hits while striking out five. Walsh finished things up in the fifth, retiring all three batters she faced with one punchout.

Lazur finished 3-for-3 at the plate, one of six Valiants to log multiple hits in the win. 

Up Next
The Valiants get one final tuneup before postseason play on Tuesday as Manhattanville hosts Moravian for a doubleheader starting at 1 p.m.