Manhattan-Detroit Box Score
Manhattan-Lehigh Box Score
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - On its first day of action at the Rebel Spring Games, the Manhattan College softball team split a pair of contests on Friday. In their first game of the day, the Lady Jaspers (3-1) notched a 9-1 victory over Detroit (2-5) at the Fortune Road Athletic Complex. Manhattan then suffered its first defeat of the season, 9-1 against Lehigh (6-7).
In the game against Detroit, Manhattan got on the board first with three runs in the bottom of the second. Ashley Rampino (Manalapan, N.J.), Kelly Murray (Leominster, Mass.) and Kate Bowen (Newtown, Conn.) all singled to load the bases with nobody out, then Rampino scored the game's first run when Meghan McDevitt (Nutley, N.J.) drew a walk. After Melissa Cascio (Kings Park, N.Y.) struck out, Kristina Walraven (Thompson Ridge, N.Y.) sent a sinking line drive back to the pitcher. The play was called a trap, and Walraven was thrown out at first for the second out. However, unaware it hadn't been ruled a catch, the Detroit fielders thought the out at first had completed an inning-ending double play and began walking off the field. Murray scored on the groundout and, noticing the confusion, Bowen alertly rounded third to give the Lady Jaspers a 3-0 lead.
The Lady Jaspers then put up a five-spot in the third. Murray and Bowen both knocked RBI singles, then McDevitt drove in another run with a sacrifice fly to right. Cascio was up next, and she crushed a two-run homer to increase Manhattan's advantage to 8-0. The Titans got one run back on an RBI single by Karen McCarty in the top of the fourth, but the game ended when Bowen ripped her second RBI single of the game in the bottom of the fifth.
In addition to going 3-for-3 with two runs scored and two RBIs at the plate, Bowen (1-0) made her first collegiate start in the circle and tossed a complete game. She yielded one run on five hits, struck out one and walked two to earn her first collegiate win. Overall, Manhattan had 11 hits in the game. Melissa Donnelly (Long Beach, N.Y.) had two hits, while Murray recorded two hits and scored twice. Four different Lady Jaspers drove in a pair of runs.
McCarty had two of Detroit's five hits, going 2-for-2 with an RBI. She also got the start in the circle and threw 3.1 innings. McCarty (2-2) surrendered eight runs (five hits) on 10 hits with three strikeouts and a walk. Anna Bondy gave up a hit and an unearned run while also picking up a strikeout in 0.2 innings of work.
After surrendering a pair of runs in the bottom of the second against Lehigh, the Lady Jaspers put together a rally in the top of the third. Amanda Babcock (Haverstraw, N.Y.) led off the inning with a double to the gap in right center and moved to third on Erika Sullivan's (Bay Shore, N.Y.) sacrifice bunt. Walraven then reached on an error, scoring Babcock to cut Lehigh's lead in half. Monica Evangelista (Cedar Grove, N.J.) followed with a single to center that gave Manhattan runners on first and second with one out, but a Donnelly groundout and a line drive by Jaci Rahey (West Milford, N.J.) ended the rally with only one run.
Lehigh immediately responded with a four-spot in the bottom of the third. Lizzy Odren singled to knock in a run, then Carly Potock crushed a three-run homer to put the Mountain Hawks in front 6-1. The Mountain Hawks added another run on Liz Lucas's double in the fourth, and scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to end the game.
Lehigh starter Rebecca Bliss (2-1) retired the last eight Manhattan hitters after Evangelista's single. She gave up just one run and two hits, struck out two and walked one. Lucas and Jennifer Colquhoun each had three of Lehigh's 14 hits in the game. Colquhoun and Odren both scored twice.
Donnelly (0-1) made her first start of the season in the circle for the Lady Jaspers. She tossed 3.1 innings, yielding seven runs on 10 hits, striking out one and walking run. Rampino allowed two runs on four hits while striking out one and walking one in 1.1 innings of relief.
The Lady Jaspers are back in action with a pair of games on Saturday. Manhattan takes on Holy Cross (2-6) at 9 a.m. and faces South Dakota (5-8) at 11 a.m.
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