Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Mickayla Romero (Las Vegas, Nev.) roped a two-out single down the right field line to end a 12-inning marathon and give the Manhattan College softball team a 6-5 win in the opening game of a doubleheader with Wagner at Gaelic Park on Wednesday afternoon. In the second game, Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, Conn.) had two home runs and six RBIs, as the Jaspers (11-19) completed a sweep of the Seahawks (13-19) with an 11-3 victory.
Wagner scored twice in the top of the first in game one before the Jaspers countered with a run in their half. Kate Bowen (Newtown, Conn.), Elena Bowman (San Mateo, Calif.) and Vazquez all singled to roughly the same spot in left field to get Manhattan on the board. However, the Seahawks increased their lead to 4-1 on Aerka High's two-run homer in the top of the fourth.
In the bottom of the fourth, Manhattan took advantage of two Wagner errors to tie the game. After Anna Crowley (Eastchester, N.Y.) drew a leadoff walk, Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, N.Y.) reached on an error and Meredith Bryant (Brielle, N.J.) walked to load the bases. Romero then drew a free pass, knocking in a run. With one out, Bowen's chopper was mishandled at first. Two runs scored on the play, knotting the score at 4-4.
The Seahawks went back in front on Hayley Sullivan's RBI single in the top of the fifth, but Manhattan answered in the sixth. After Romero reached on an error and Bowen singled, Wagner made a pitching change in the middle of Bowman's at-bat. She ended up walking to load the bases, then Vazquez, the first batter to officially face reliever Samantha Bedker, was issued a free pass that evened things at 5-5.
And it would remain that way for the next five innings, as Bedker and Amy Bright (Manlius, N.Y.) threw up dueling zeroes. Wagner loaded the bases in the 11th, but Bright got Kelsey Parker on an inning-ending popup. The Seahawks then left a runner on second in the 12th. Bedker had retired eight straight Jaspers going back to the ninth inning until Crowley drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the 12th. Reinhardt then walked to put runners on first and second with one out. After Bryant struck out, Romero sent a grounder past first that rolled down the right field line for a game-winning single, ending the three-hour, 19-minute affair.
Bowen had three of Manhattan's seven hits in the game, finishing 3-for-6 with a run scored and an RBI. Crowley scored twice, while Vazquez and Romero each drove in a pair of runs. Danielle Gabriel (Island Heights, N.J.) got the start in the circle and went four innings. She gave up four runs on six hits, struck out two and walked one. Crowley pitched the fifth and allowed one run on three hits with a walk and a strikeout. Bright (4-10), who was originally supposed to start game two, ended up tossing seven innings of shutout relief in game one. She yielded just four hits and three walks while striking out four to earn the win.
As a team, Wagner collected 13 hits in game one. Beth Lewis went 3-for-5 with a run scored, while Sullivan and Megan Moore each added two hits. High drove in a pair on her homer. Starting pitcher McKaleigh Goodale went 5.2 innings and was charged with five runs (two earned) on five hits. She also struck out five and walked four. Bedker (5-7) suffered a tough-luck loss after surrendering just one run on two hits with six strikeouts and five walks in six innings of relief.
The Manhattan offense erupted early and often in game two. The Jaspers put four runs on the board in the bottom of the first, as the first four hitters in the Manhattan lineup all reached base and ended up scoring. Wagner responded with three in the top of the second, but left the bases loaded.
Manhattan's onslaught then continued with a three-spot in the bottom of the second. Amanda Paxson (Cedar Grove, N.J.) started the rally with a double. After Bowman was hit by a pitch with one out, Vazquez crushed a long three-run homer to left that made it 7-3. The Jaspers looked for more later in the inning, but Sydney Weedon (Santa Ana, Calif.) was thrown out at home trying to score from first on Reinhardt's double.
Crowley doubled and stole third before scoring on Paxson's sacrifice fly in the third. Then in the fourth, after Bowman drew a leadoff walk, Vazquez smashed her second home run of the game, a shot to center field. Vazquez came up again in the bottom of the fifth, and she ended the contest with a bases loaded single that glanced off Bedker's glove into the gap between first and second base. Crowley scored on the play to give the Jaspers an 11-3, five-inning victory.
Vazquez finished 3-for-3 with three runs scored and six RBIs in game two. Bowman also scored three times, while Crowley crossed the plate twice. Paxson came off the bench to go 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI. Andi Stallard (Katy, Texas) and Bowen each added two hits, as Manhattan collected 11 hits as a team. Bowen (6-5), who ended up starting in the circle after Bright's game one effort, tossed a five-inning complete game and earned the win. She allowed three runs on seven hits, struck out one and walked one.
For the Seahawks, High went 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs in game two, while Taylor Rauscher finished 2-for-2. Lewis, meanwhile, was 1-for-3 with an RBI. As a team, Wagner tallied seven hits in the game. Starting pitcher Gina Massaro (1-6) yielded seven runs on four hits, struck out two and walked two in 1.1 innings. After going six-plus innings in game one, Bedker tossed three more in game two. She gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks.
The Jaspers (1-3 MAAC) will play their next 10 games against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) opponents, starting with a pair of home doubleheaders this weekend. Canisius (8-20, 1-3 MAAC) comes to Gaelic Park at 12 p.m. on Saturday, while Manhattan hosts Niagara (11-15, 2-2 MAAC) for a 10 a.m. twinbill on Sunday.
