Manhattan-Cornell Box Score
Manhattan-Wagner Box Score
KISSIMMEE, Fla. ? After getting the day off on Tuesday, the Manhattan College softball team (2-10) was back in action with a pair of contests at the Rebel Spring Games on Wednesday. The Lady Jaspers fell 2-1 to Cornell (13-5) in the morning, then dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 decision to Wagner (4-11) on a walk-off hit in the bottom of the seventh inning at the Osceola County Sports Complex.
After retiring Cornell in order in the first inning, Manhattan starter Erika Sullivan (Bay Shore, N.Y.) got out of a bases-loaded one-out jam in the second by recording a strikeout and inducing a fielder's choice ground ball. The Big Red managed a run in the top of the third when Alyson Intihar reached on an error leading off the inning. Intihar stole second, then moved to third on a sacrifice. She scored on a perfectly executed squeeze play with Ashley Garvey at the plate.
Sullivan helped her own cause in the bottom half of the inning when she whacked an RBI double to bring in Amanda Berrios (Carteret, N.J.), who had been hit by a pitch.
It remained 1-1 until the top of the sixth, when Sullivan surrendered a leadoff home run to Jessy Berkey that gave the Big Red a 2-1 lead. Cornell pitcher Ali Tomlinson struck out the Lady Jaspers in order in the bottom of the sixth and struck out Nicole Michel (Massapequa, N.Y.) for the first out of the bottom of the seventh, but the tying run reached base when Kelly Murray (Leominster, Mass.) singled through the right side. Murray remained on first base, however, as Tomlinson struck out Melissa Donnelly (Long Beach, N.Y.), then got Monica Evangelista (Cedar Grove, N.J.) to ground out to end the game.
Sullivan (0-4) went the distance in the circle for Manhattan. She scattered eight hits and surrendered two runs (one earned) while striking out four and walking one.
Tomlinson (5-2) was just a little bit better in the pitchers' duel. She gave up just one run and three hits while striking out 10, including four straight, and walking two. Berkey and Elise Menaker each had two of Cornell's eight hits. Berkey went 2-for-3 with her solo home run.
Against Wagner, Manhattan jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Kristina Walraven (Thompson Ridge, N.Y.) roped a leadoff single to left center, stole second base, and moved to third on Sullivan's infield single. With runners on the corners and nobody out, Sullivan broke to steal second and the catcher's throw sailed into center field, allowing Walraven to come home with the game's first run. Sullivan then came around when Ashley Rampino (Manalapan, N.J.) lifted a sacrifice fly to left.
Sullivan and Rampino were responsible for the Lady Jaspers tacking on another run in the top of the third. After Sullivan walked, Rampino roped an RBI double to left center that gave Manhattan a 3-0 lead.
A Manhattan error in the bottom of the fourth proved costly, as it allowed the Seahawks to tie the game. Donnelly struck out Amanda Garcia to open the inning before walking Jaclyn Vanore. Amanda deLancellotti hit a foul popup to first for the second out. It appeared Donnelly would get out of the inning when Kate Eshelman sent a chopper towards first, but Carla Velasquez (Miami, Fla.) misplayed it, allowing Eshelman to reach and the inning to continue. Vanessa Lenart made the Lady Jaspers pay with a three-run homer to left that made it 3-3.
The score remained knotted into the bottom of the seventh, when Lenart led off for the Seahawks with a single. After a Cindy Bagnoli single, Emily Pierce dropped down a sacrifice bunt. The Lady Jaspers tried to get Lenart at third, but she beat the throw and Wagner had the bases loaded with nobody out. Donnelly struck out Hailey Corthell for the first out, but Andrea Lazzari, the 2008 Northeast Conference Player of the Year, followed with a walk-off single up the middle to drive in Lenart and give Wagner a 4-3 victory.
The first three spots in the Manhattan lineup accounted for all the Lady Jaspers' offense against Wagner. Leadoff batter Walraven was 1-for-3 with a run scored, Sullivan was 1-for-2 with two runs scored, and Rampino went 2-for-2 and drove in a pair of runs. Donnelly (1-4) went the distance in the circle, yielding four runs (one earned) and seven hits while striking out two and walking one in 6.1 innings.
Lenart went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBIs for Wagner. Lazzari was 2-for-4 with the game-winning RBI. As a team, Wagner belted seven hits. In the circle, Eshelman (1-5) gave up three runs (two earned) and four hits with three strikeouts and a walk in seven innings of work.
The Lady Jaspers face Cornell again in their second game of the day on Thursday. Manhattan meets Fairleigh Dickinson (2-11) at 3 p.m. before taking on the Big Red at 5 p.m.
