PURCHASE, N.Y. – The Manhattanville University softball team extended its win streak up to ten games on Saturday with a doubleheader sweep at Purchase College. The Valiants improve to 21-7 on the season with the pair of five inning run-rule wins and are now 10-0 in Skyline Conference play.
Game One Recap: Manhattanville 8, Purchase 0 (Five Innings)
Jori Wilkendorf (Livermore, Calif./Livermore) threw her sixth complete game shutout in the opener, holding the Panthers to four hits as the Valiants rode a six-run fifth to an early victory.
The junior arm did not allow a hit until the third, navigating around a pair of singles to keep the Panthers off the board. She would continue to cruise until the fifth when she faced more traffic after a pair of leadoff singles and an error, but was able to lock things down for the win via run rule.
Manhattanville's offense was able to plate a pair of runs over the first and second inning before erupting for the six-spot in the fifth.
Isabella Tansey (San Diego, Calif./University City) generated a run all by herself in the first, drawing a two-out walk. The senior then stole second, and with some confusion on what the count was to
Angelina Cruz (Oceanside, Calif./Rancho Buena Vista), chaos ensued. Tansey broke for third on ball three, but Cruz made her way to first, thinking it was ball four. Cruz then made a wide turn at first, prompting a throw down from the Purchase catcher and allowing Tansey to break for home before Cruz was called back to finish her at-bat. The run stood as scored, giving the Valiants an unconventional 1-0 lead.
The Valiants scored in a more traditional fashion in the second, with
Samantha Reyer (Oceanside, N.Y./Oceanside) scoring on a
Cady Sickler (Kingston, N.Y./Kingston) sacrifice fly to push the lead to 2-0. Manhattanville collected three more base hits over the third and fourth innings, but would be held in check until the fifth.
Sickler reached on an error to open the frame, scoring a batter later on a
Breanna Ochoa (South Gate, Calif./Saint Joseph) infield single. Manhattanville then got back-to-back RBI off the bats of
Emma Foster (Santa Barbara, Calif./San Marcos) and
Josie O'Leary (Pawling, N.Y./Pawling) to make it a five-run game.
With the bases empty and still only one out, Tansey laced a triple to keep the pressure on. An error allowed Cruz to reach and Tansey to score before back-to-back doubles by
Sydni Brooks (Anaheim, Calif./Cypress) and Reyer made it an 8-0 lead for the Valiants.
Now within range of a run-rule victory, Wilkendorf surrendered a pair of singles to open up the fifth. However, the junior as able to get Natalia Gallo to fly into a double play as Mel Harper was thrown out trying to tag up on the play and would survive an error in the following at-bat to get Sariah Sanchez to ground out for the final out of the game.
Game Two Recap: Manhattanville 14, Purchase 0 (Five Innings)
The Valiants teed off for 12 runs across the fourth and fifth innings in support of
Tahlia Smith (St. Helena, Calif./St. Helena) in the circle to complete the sweep of Saturday's action.
Smith held the Panthers scoreless through four innings of work, improving to 7-3 on her rookie season. The freshman fireballer struck out six and only allowed two hits and not issuing a walk for the first time this season. She gave way to
Hyli De Los Santos (Tustin, Calif./Irvine) in the fifth, who allowed a walk as the lone blemish of her scoreless inning of relief.
Like in the opener, the Valiants scored a pair of early runs before piling things on in the latter half. A Foster leadoff single, steal and Tansey double plated the first run of Game Two before Foster set the table again in the third. The sophomore led off with an infield single, stole second and third, and scored easily on O'Leary's single to put the Valiants up 2-0.
The game came undone in the fourth as Reyer hit a double to lead off, followed by a Sickler single. Smith helped herself out with an RBI double before Ochoa scored Sickler on an RBI ground out. Smith then scored on Foster's single as the lineup flipped over.
Foster stole her fourth and fifth bases of the game to move up to third, scoring on Tansey's two out single that furthered the lead to 6-0. Purchase made a pitching change, but Ava Knox could not escape the inning unscathed, giving up back-to-back doubles to Cruz and
Bria Hospodar (Old Bethpage, N.Y./Plainview-Old Bethpage John F Kennedy) to cap off a six run, seven hit inning that had Manhattanville leading 8-0.
After Smith worked around a single and a ground-rule double in the bottom half to keep the Panthers off the board, the Valiant bats went right back to hot swinging in the fifth. After Sickler and Smith led off with a pair of singles, the Panthers retired the next two Valiant batters to bring up
Alexa Lazur (Carlsbad, Calif./La Costa Canyon). The junior laced a double to center to clear the bases, scoring a pair.
The first of three Panther errors in the inning allowed De Los Santos to reach and prolong the innings, leading to four-straight RBI singles off the bats of
Ruby Wilson (Merrimack, N.H./Bishop Guertin), Hospodar, Reyer and
Johanna Granillo (Reseda, Calif./Cleveland) as the lead swelled to 14-0.
De Los Santos stayed in the game and moved to pitcher, immediately facing trouble after an error and a walk put a pair on with nobody out. After retiring the lead runner on a fielder's choice, the sophomore arm escaped a wild pitch that moved the two runners into scoring position undamaged with a pair of flyouts to end the game.
Up Next
The Valiants will take on Mount Saint Vincent tomorrow night in a doubleheader at Fordham University. First pitch between the Skyline foes is slated for 6 p.m.
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