EWING, N.J. – Meeting for the first time since the 2023 NCAA Tournament, the Manhattanville University softball team split a Saturday doubleheader at The College of New Jersey. The Valiants took the opener before dropping the backend in extras in a pair of tightly-contested games.
Game One Recap: Manhattanville 3, TCNJ 2
Back in 2023, the Valiants and Lions met in the Virginia Wesleyan Regional for the NCAA Tournament. The Lions beat the Valiants twice in a pair of pitching duels to bring an end to Manhattanville's season.
With those losses still in the minds of the nine Valiants that were on that 2023 roster, Manhattanville was able to exact some revenge by taking the win in a thrilling opener.
Tied 1-1 entering the seventh inning,
Isabella Tansey (San Diego, Calif./University City) led off the frame getting plunked by a pitch. The pain was quick to subside as
Olivia Fasce (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) laced a triple to right to chase Tansey around the bases with the go-ahead run. Fasce herself scored in the following at-bat on a
Samantha Walsh (Spring City, Pa./Owen J Roberts) RBI groundout to put the Valiants up 3-1 as TCNJ stepped up for their final at-bats.
An error and a walk opened the door for the Lions as Olivia Santos just kept the ball fair down the first base line for a double, scoring Morgan Estelow and putting Kaci Neveling on third as the tying run. Julia Kinnally looked to have gotten the job done as she lined a ball out to right field, but
Emma Foster (Santa Barbara, Calif./San Marcos) showed off her cannon of an arm and fired a dart right on target to home to nab Neveling on the would-be sacrifice fly to record the final out of the game.
Foster's double play capped off another solid pitching performance from
Emily Mottoshiski (Craryville, N.Y./Taconic Hills) who improved to 4-1 with the complete game victory. The junior pitched seven innings and allowed just one earned run on six hits and a pair of walks. While unable to record a strikeout, Mottoshiski was able to limit the hard contact, getting eight ground outs and 10 fly outs.
The Valiants took a 1-0 lead in the first on an
Angelina Cruz (Oceanside, Calif./Rancho Buena Vista) infield single that scored Fasce. The lead remained intact until the fourth when the Lions tied things up on Sara Vincent's RBI single that brought home Kinnally.
Fasce had her best game at the plate of the season in the opener, going 3-for-4 with a double and a triple, driving in a run and scoring a pair.
Rachel Coleman (Lake Forest, Calif./Mission Viejo) was the lone other Valiant with multiple hits in the win, collecting a pair of singles.
Game Two Recap: Manhattanville 5, TCNJ 6 (8 Innings)
Another exciting game that went down to the wire, the Valiants went to extras for the first time in 2025 but were unable to take advantage of their go-around with the free runner on second as the Lions went on to talk it off in the bottom half of the eighth.
With
Samantha Reyer (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) placed on second to begin extras,
Alexa Lazur (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon) dropped down a sacrifice bunt to scoot the go-ahead run up to third. Maya Knasiak left Reyer stranded right there, striking out
Johanna Granillo (Reseda, Calif,/Cleveland) before getting Tansey to ground out to keep the Valiants off the board.
TCNJ cashed in in the bottom half to walk it off as Neveling repaid the favor after getting gunned down to end game one with the winning single to score Estelow.
It was another quick start for the Valiants as the visitors struck again in the first inning. After Tansey hit a leadoff double, Fasce continued her great day with a two-bagger to plate the first run. The senior scored two batters later on
Sydni Brooks' (Anaheim, Calif./Cypress) RBI single to center.
The Lions scratched out two runs in the bottom of the second on a pair of hits and an error to tie up the game. The Valiants retook the lead in the third as Lazur plated Coleman on an infield single, putting Manhattanville up 3-2.
The back-and-forth continued as TCNJ tied the game up again in the fourth. The Lions loaded up the bases with one away and scored the tying run on an error. The home side threatened to do further damage with the bases remaining juiced with still only one out, but Mottoshiski, making the start again for the backend of the doubleheader, got a pair of lineouts to keep the game tied.
Mottoshiski would not be as fortunate in the fifth as the Lions took their first lead of the game, scoring a pair of runs on three hits. The senior would work her way out of the inning with just the two runs allowed in the frame to close her book on the day. Mottoshiski took a no decision as she went five innings deep, allowing five runs (two earned) on nine hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts.
The Valiants responded to their first deficit of the day by immediately tying the game up with a two-run sixth. Lazur hit a one-out single and scored one batter later as Foster lined a triple down the right field line. Foster came home as the tying run in the following at-bat as Tansey dropped a single in to center to make it 5-5, where the score remained until the Lions' walk-off.
Jori Wilkendorf (Livermore, Calif./Livermore) was saddled with the hard-luck loss, coming in on relief for Mottoshiski in the sixth. The sophomore pitched well in her third appearance of the year, allowing just two hits in 2.1 innings with one walk and a strikeout, being charged for the unearned run in the eighth.
Tansey, Fasce and Lazur each finished with two hits in the game. With her double in the finale, Fasce has now hit a two-bagger in each of the team's last five games, raising her batting average to .370 in the process.
Up Next
The Valiants are off to New Haven on Wednesday for a doubleheader at Albertus Magnus starting at 3 p.m.
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