SALISBURY, Md. – Opening action at the 2026 Margie Knight Softball Classic, the Manhattanville University softball team split its pair of games on Friday afternoon in Maryland, bouncing back from a 7-4 loss to Muhlenberg with an 11-1 six-inning run rule victory over King's to get into the win column for the first time on the season. Manhattanville moves to 1-3 on the year with the decisions.

Game One Recap: Manhattanville 4, Muhlenberg 7
With the day's action originally scheduled for an 11 a.m. start, field conditions hampered by lingering snow mounds resulted in a delayed start and games being shifted around. The Valiants finally got play underway at 3 p.m. to take on Muhlenberg.

After surrendering a first inning run, Manhattanville responded in the bottom half with a two-run frame. Breanna Ochoa's (South Gate, Calif./Saint Joseph High School) leadoff walk followed by Emma Foster's (Santa Barbara, Calif./San Marcos) single had the Valiants in business early, with the pair moving up a base on a passed ball. Isabella Tansey (San Diego, Calif./University City) cashed in on the RBI situation, skying out a sacrifice fly to right to plate Ochoa. Foster scored in the following at-bat, scampering home on a wild pitch for Manhattanville's first lead of the day.

The Mules went back in front in the second, plating a pair of runs on three hits. The Valiants once again had a response in the bottom half, setting the table with a leadoff walk by Sydni Brooks (Anaheim, Calif./Cypress) and a Samantha Reyer (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) single. The next two Valiants were sat down as Muhlenberg was on the verge of escaping unscathed, but a dropped fly ball in the infield allowed Brooks to score the tying run on the error.

Muhlenberg's offense continued to put bat on ball, scoring four more runs on four hits and a hit-by-pitch in the third to take a 7-3 lead. Manhattanville got one run back on an Angelina Cruz (Oceanside, Calif./Rancho Buena Vista) sacrifice fly in the fifth to score Foster with her second run of the game, but that would be the final showing from the Valiant offense that was held to just six singles in the contest.

Foster finished 3-for-4 at the plate in the two-hole, adding a stolen base in the fifth that led to her scoring her second run of the game. Reyer finished 2-for-3, while Lianna Lara (Santa Clarita, Calif./Sierra Canyon School) reached base three times with a trio of walks.

Tahlia Smith (St. Helena, Calif./St. Helena) suffered the loss, going two innings-plus in the start. The freshman allowed six runs on seven hits, walking three while striking out two. Jori Wilkendorf (Livermore, Calif./Livermore) pitched the final five innings in relief, scattering four hits while allowing one run and a walk with a pair of punchouts.

Game Two Recap: Manhattanville 11, King's 1 (Six Innings)
The Valiant bats had their best showing of the young season in Friday's finale, putting up 11 runs on nine hits for a six-inning run-rule victory over the Monarchs.

After her five innings against the Mules, Wilkendorf got the start and dealt against King's. The junior went five innings, holding the Monarchs scoreless on four hits and a walk while striking out two to improve to 1-1 on the year. She gave way to Hyli De Los Santos (Tustin, Calif./Irvine) in the sixth, with the sophomore closing out the win with her lone inning of work. De Los Santos allowed a run on a pair of hits in her pitching debut of 2026, walking two and striking out one.

The Valiants erupted for a five-run second inning to blow the game open early. Cruz led off with a double and moved to third after Ruby Wilson (Merrimack, N.H./Bishop Guertin) reached on a passed ball third strike. The pair pulled off a double steal of home and second for the Valiants' first run of the day. Wilson came home on an Ochoa sac fly before Josie O'Leary (Pawling, N.Y./Pawling) scored Cady Sickler (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston) with a one-out single. Foster brought home the fourth run of the inning with a triple, and while she would be retired at home on a fielder's choice off the bat of Tansey, the senior made the most of her chance on the basepaths, stealing second and racing home on Johanna Granillo's (Reseda, Calif./Cleveland) RBI single.

Manhattanville added a run apiece in the third and the fourth. Sickler drove in Wilson with a triple to swell the lead up to 6-0, before the extra base hits kept coming as Tansey drove in O'Leary with a double in the fourth.

The Valiants got withing the margin of a run-rule win in the sixth, tacking on four more runs. An error, Tansey double and Granillo walk loaded up the bases with two outs. Reyer delivered with a two-run single, before a throwing error on Bria Hospodar's (Old Bethpage, N.Y./Plainview-Old Bethpage John F Kennedy) ground ball allowed two more to score for the 11-0 lead. King's got a run back in the bottom half off of De Los Santos but could not cover enough ground as the Valiants secured their first win of the season.

Up Next
The Margie Knight Classic continues tomorrow with another pair of games as the Valiants take on Carnegie Mellon at 1:30 p.m. before playing NYU at 3:30.