Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. ? For the second time in as many days, Melissa Donnelly (Long Beach, N.Y.) smashed a solo home run to give the Manhattan College softball team (13-23, 5-3 MAAC) a 3-2 victory, this time knocking off Siena (10-21, 5-5 MAAC) in the second game of a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) doubleheader at Gaelic Park on Saturday. Donnelly also scored the winning run in game one, as the Lady Jaspers came back from a 5-2 deficit with five runs in the bottom of the sixth to post a 7-5 win.
Manhattan took an early lead in game one on an RBI single by Amanda Genovese (Bethany, Conn.) in the bottom of the second. The Saints tied it immediately when Natasha Powlowsky hit a solo home run leading off the top of the third. The Lady Jaspers regained the lead on Melissa Cascio's (Kings Park, N.Y.) solo shot in the fourth.
Meanwhile, Ashley Rampino (Manalapan, N.J.) was cruising along in the circle, yielding just two Siena hits through the first five. In the top of the sixth, leadoff hitter Jenny McNulty started the inning with a bunt single. After stealing second base, McNulty scored the tying run on an error. Rampino recorded the first out on a fielder's choice, then walked Jamie Piela. Courtney Brinkman followed with a three-run homer that gave Siena a 5-2 lead and chased Rampino from the circle. Erika Sullivan (Bay Shore, N.Y.) took over and fanned the first two hitters she faced to end the inning.
In the bottom of the sixth, Rampino got Manhattan's rally started with a single to center. After Danielle Just (Woodcliff Lake, N.J.) single, Piela was summoned to the circle for Siena. She gave up an infield single to Nicole Michel (Massapequa, N.Y.), and pinch runner Gianna Cirilli (Little Ferry, N.Y.) came around when Lauren Weingart's throw went into the dugout. After a strikeout, Manhattan cut its deficit to 5-4 when Just and Michel executed a double steal perfectly. Cascio and Donnelly walked to load the bases, then Manhattan tied the game on an RBI single by Kristina Walraven (Thompson Ridge, N.Y.). The Lady Jaspers took the lead on Sullivan's RBI single that knocked in one run, and an insurance tally came across on an error.
Sullivan then shut the door, retiring the Saints in order in the top of the seventh to seal the victory. She retired all five batters she faced, including three strikeouts, to earn the win.
Rampino gave up five runs (four earned) and four hits with two strikeouts and two walks over the first 5.1 innings. Offensively, the Lady Jaspers belted eight hits. Michel was the only Manhattan batter with a multi-hit game one, going 2-for-3 at the plate.
McNulty had two of Siena's four hits, while Brinkman drove in three runs with her homer. Amanda Filippazzo went five-plus innings in the circle. She gave up four runs and five hits while striking out three and walking two. Piela (1-5) took the loss after yielding three runs (two earned) and three hits with two walks and a strikeout in the sixth inning.
The offense came early in game two, as Siena pushed across a couple of unearned tallies in the top of the first. McNulty reached on a leadoff walk and Weingart singled, but it looked like Sullivan would get out of the inning unscathed when Brinkman sent a grounder to short. However, Michel's throw was wild, and both runners came around.
Manhattan got one run back thanks to a Siena error (the Saints' first of five in the contest) that allowed Walraven to reach base. She scored on Rampino's double that just missed clearing the wall in center field. The Lady Jaspers tied the game on another unearned tally in the bottom of the second. Cascio reached on a double-error leading off the inning, then was pinch run for by Cirilli, who moved to third on a passed ball. Cirilli scored when Genovese hit into a fielder's choice.
A pitcher's duel between Sullivan and Brinkman emerged from there, as Siena had just four hits the rest of the way and Manhattan was limited to just three. It looked like the Saints would break the deadlock when the first three hitters in the top of the fifth all reached base. Sullivan got Piela to pop to second for the first out of the inning, then struck out Brinkman. Third baseman Kelly Murray (Leominster, Mass.) made sure the Saints would leave the bases loaded when she snared Renee Clavette's line drive that looked like a certain RBI single, but turned out to be the final out of the inning instead.
The Lady Jaspers immediately made Siena pay for missing its chance, as Donnelly led off the bottom of the fifth with a blast to left center, her third home run of the season and second in as many days (she hit a walk-off shot against Marist on Friday). Staked to the lead, Sullivan shut the door over the final two innings, retiring six of the seven batters she faced and allowing just a two-out single in the sixth.
Manhattan's five hits were scattered among five different players. Walraven went 1-for-3 and scored a run, while Rampino was 1-for-3 with an RBI and Donnelly's homer highlighted a 1-for-2 game. Sullivan (3-8) earned her second win of the day after tossing a complete game in the circle. She gave up two unearned runs and six hits, struck out four and walked three.
McNulty had two of Siena's five hits in game two, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Brinkman (5-7) went all six innings in the circle for the Saints, yielding three runs (one earned) and five hits.
The Lady Jaspers conclude their six-game homestand on Tuesday afternoon, when Saint Peter's (7-15, 0-4 MAAC) comes to Gaelic Park for a 2 p.m. doubleheader.
