SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – The Manhattanville University softball team saw its 16-game win streak come to an end on Tuesday as the Valiants dropped a pair of games to Springfield College in a late-season non-conference matchup. Manhattanville falls to 24-8 overall with the defeats, the Valiants' first losses since March.
Game One Recap: Manhattanville 1, Springfield 3
The opening clash of the day saw all the scoring come in the second inning. With two away in the top half,
Emily Mottoshiski (Craryville, N.Y./Taconic Hills) advanced into scoring position on a passed ball, allowing
Samantha Reyer (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) to driver her home with an RBI single to put the Valiants ahead.
Springfield waited little time to respond, collecting three of their four hits of the afternoon in the bottom half as part of a three-run inning. An error on the first at-bat of the inning was the opening the Pride needed, going on to collect three RBI base knocks in the frame to take a lead that remained unmoved for the rest of the game.
Mottoshiski was stellar in the circle against one of the top teams in the NEWMAC, holding the Pride to just four hits across six innings of work. The senior was charged with just one earned run and issued a pair of walks while striking out two. Despite the hard-luck loss dropping her to 13-4 on the year, Mottoshiski holds a sparkling 1.72 ERA as the final week of the season rolls on.
The Valiant offense was held in check beyond the second inning, not collecting another hit until the sixth.
Olivia Fasce (Yorktown Heights, N.Y./Yorktown) accounted for two of Manhattanville's five total hits, including a double in the sixth.
Rachel Coleman (Lake Forest, Calif./Mission Viejo) and
Emma Foster (Santa Barbara, Calif./San Marcos) both added a single, while Coleman stole a base in the seventh.
Game Two Recap: Manhattanville 3, Springfield 6
The Pride hung a pair of three-spots up across the first two innings, put the Valiants in a hole that the team could not fight back from.
After Springfield took a 6-0 lead after two innings, Manhattanville's bats were again kept quiet to the tune of just two hits over the first five innings. The Valiants were finally able to break through against Abby Robinson in the sixth, plating a pair on three hits. Fasce got the ball rolling with a one-out single and scored on
Samantha Walsh's (Spring City, Pa./Owen J Roberts) double. Walsh moved up to third on an
Angelina Cruz (Oceanside, Calif./Rancho Buena Vista) single before scoring on a fielder's choice as the Pride were unable to turn two to complete the inning-ending double play.
Manhattanville added one more in the seventh on
Cady Sickler's (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston) single to drive home
Alexa Lazur (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon), but that would be all for Manhattanville's comeback bid.
Lazur led the offense with two hits, her first multi-hit game since Apr. 18 against Mount Saint Vincent.
Jori Wilkendorf's (Livermore, Calif./Livermore) six-game winning streak came to an end as the Pride got to the sophomore starter early. Wilkendorf surrendered a season-high six runs on five hits and five walks, striking out one in 1.2 innings.
Walsh moved from second base to the circle in relief, firing a scoreless 4.1 innings the rest of the way home. She scattered four hits and a pair of walks across her outing and dropping her ERA to 1.47 across five appearances.
Up Next
The Valiants head home to begin the final stretch of the Skyline Conference regular season, starting with a Wednesday afternoon doubleheader against Sarah Lawrence starting at 3 p.m.
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