Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. - With two out in the bottom of the seventh inning, Kristina Walraven (Thompson Ridge, N.Y.) sent a walk-off home run over the left field fence to give the Manhattan College softball team (9-11) a 2-1 victory in the second game of a doubleheader with Wagner (8-21) on Wednesday afternoon. The Seahawks notched a 1-0 win in the first game at Gaelic Park.
Manhattan had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Melissa Cascio (Kings Park, N.Y.) started the inning with a single, then was replaced by pinch runner Michelle Roemer (Ardsley, N.Y.). Roemer moved to second on a sacrifice bunt and moved to third on a wild pitch. She scored the game's first run when Carla Velasquez (Miami, Fla.) sent a grounder to third.
Erika Sullivan (Bay Shore, N.Y.) had given up just one Wagner hit through four innings before the Seahawks rallied to tie it in the top of the fifth. Hailey Corthell got the inning started with an infield single, but she was erased when Brittay Huss grounded into a fielder's choice. After Carley Nicoletti flied to center, Jamie El-Aazami roped a double to right, and Huss beat the throw home to tie the game at 1-1.
Wagner pitcher Terah DeBinder quickly got the first two outs in the seventh before Walraven's shot salvaged a split of the twinbill for the Lady Jaspers.
Walraven ended up 2-for-4 in the game, while Melissa Donnelly (Long Beach, N.Y.) went 2-for-3. Sullivan (6-3) went the distance in the circle, giving up just one run and four hits.
Wagner's four hits were spread among four different players. El-Aazami was 1-for-2 with an RBI, while Huss went 1-for-3 with a run scored. DeBinder (4-5) yielded two runs on five hits, struck out three and walked two in 6.2 innings.
In game one, Wagner made a first-inning run hold up. Emily Pierce reached on a leadoff walk, then advanced to third on a pair of groundouts. Kate Eshelman followed with a popup to the infield that looked like it would be the third out, but Nicole Michel (Massapequa, N.Y.) lost the ball in the sun and it fell for a hit. Pierce scored on the play to give the Seahawks a 1-0 lead.
The Seahawks rallied again in the third, loading the bases with nobody out. Manhattan moved the infield in, and Amanda Garcia and Eshelman both sent grounders towards short. Michel got the out at home each time, then Donnelly got out of trouble when Corthell grounded to second to end the inning.
After Walraven reached on a fielding error in the bottom of the third, Wagner starter Judy Betz retired 12 straight Lady Jaspers before Kelly Murray's (Leominster, Mass.) two-out single to center in the bottom of the seventh. With the tying run now on base, Betz struck out Ashley Rampino (Manalapan, N.J.) to end the game and give the Seahawks a 1-0 victory.
There were a total of just five hits in game one, three by Wagner and two by Manhattan. Christina Pinkus had the other hit for the Seahawks, and Jaci Rahey's (West Milford, N.J.) single down the left field line leading off the bottom of the second was Manhattan's only other hit. Donnelly (2-3) came up on the wrong end of a pitcher's duel, taking a hard-luck loss in the circle. She surrendered just one run and three hits, struck out five and walked five. Betz (4-7), meanwhile, tossed a two-hit shutout. She struck out three and walked one.
The Lady Jaspers continue their six-game homestand on Saturday, when they begin defense of their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) regular season title against Iona (11-14, 0-0 MAAC). The doubleheader gets underway at 12 p.m.
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