PURCHASE. N.Y. – The Manhattanville University softball team was named NCAA Division III statistical champions for runs per game on Tuesday.
The Valiants finished the 2024 campaign atop the 402 Division III softball teams in the country with 8.16 runs per game. Manhattanville was one of three programs to plate eight or more runs per contest, joined by Linfield (8.00) and Trine (8.13) as the top scoring offenses in the nation.
In all, Manhattanville scored 359 total runs last season across its 44 games, the most since the team's record-setting 369 runs in 2016. It was also the second-straight year that the Valiants scored 300 runs, with Manhattanville finishing 13
th in the country in 2023 with 6.85 runs per game (315 runs total).
Leading the charge were graduate
Sarah Harker (Irvine, Calif./Irvine) and junior
Samantha Walsh (Spring City, Pa./Owen J Roberts), both crossing home plate more than 50 times in the season. The tandem became just the fourth and fifth players to ever score 50 runs in a season in program history. Harker scored 54 runs in 2024, the second-highest single-season total by a Valiant, while Walsh scored 53, tied for third overall. Harker also drove in 58 runs to set a new single-season record en route to being selected as an NFCA All-American in May.
All nine of the Valiants' primary starters in 2024 score at least 20 runs.
Olivia Fasce (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) was third on the team with a career-high 36 runs.
Samantha Reyer (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside),
Isabella Tansey (San Diego, Calif./University City),
Amaya Esparza (San Diego, Calif./Granite Hills),
Rachel Coleman (Lake Forest, Calif./Mission Viejo),
Alexa Lazur (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon)e and
Juliana Parkes (Victoria, British Columbia, Canada/Belmont Secondary) all finished with 22 runs of more scored to help Manhattanville claim the statistical championship.
The Valiants went 32-12 overall on the year, winning the team's second-straight conference championship and 13
th overall in program history. Manhattanville went on to compete in the NCAA Tournament, earning a victory over Eastern in the Salisbury Regional.
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