Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Solid pitching and clutch hitting have been the trademarks of the Manhattan College softball team all season. That was the Jaspers' formula again on Sunday. Amy Bright (Manlius, N.Y.) and Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, N.Y.) each tossed a shutout and the offense combined for three home runs in the doubleheader, as Manhattan (17-9, 8-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) posted a pair of 5-0 victories over Monmouth (8-17, 4-4 MAAC) at Gaelic Park. The Jaspers' eight straight wins to begin conference play are a program record.
Bright loaded the bases on two singles and a walk in the second inning of game one, but Emma Hill sent a grounder towards third and Manhattan got the out at home to end the frame. Matazinsky then gave the Jaspers a 2-0 lead when she crushed a two-run homer to center in the bottom half of the inning.
The Jaspers failed to score after loading the bases with nobody out in the fourth, as Monmouth got the out at home on Meredith Bryant's (Brielle, N.J.) grounder to first before Emily Cutler (Bloomingdale, N.J.) grounded into a double play. Cutler prevented the Hawks from getting on the board in the top of the fifth, though. Pinch runner Raeann Buskey tried to score from second on Ashalynn Umimaka's two out-single up the middle, but Cutler's throw home beat the runner by plenty, and Elena Bowman (San Mateo, Calif.) applied the tag to keep it a 2-0 game.
It wouldn't remain 2-0 for long, however. Bowman and Amanda Paxson (Cedar Grove, N.J.) both drew one-out walks in the fifth, bringing up Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, Conn.). And she gave her team a 5-0 lead with a three-run blast to right center. Bright then took care of the Hawks in order in the sixth and again in the seventh to finish off her second shutout of the weekend.
Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, N.Y.) finished 2-for-3 in the game and scored on Matazinsky's home run, while Vazquez tallied three RBIs on her homer. Bowman had the Jaspers' only other hit and scored a run. Bright (10-4) extended her scoreless inning streak to 21 with a complete-game four-hitter. She struck out four and walked two.
Kayleena Flores went 2-for-3 for Monmouth. Umimaka and Vanessa Cardoza added singles for the Hawks. Starting pitcher Sydney Underhill (3-9) lasted 4.1 innings in the circle. She was removed after the Vazquez home run having given up five runs on five hits with five walks and two strikeouts. Breanna Sniffen pitched the final 1.2 innings and kept the Jaspers hitless while recording a walk and a strikeout.
In game two, Bowman gave Matazinsky an early 1-0 lead with her league-leading 11th home run of the season, a long blast to left field in the bottom of the first. Matazinsky got some help from her defense to keep it that way. Monmouth put runners on first and second with nobody out in the third, and the Hawks thought they had scored on a little nubber hit by Justene Reyes in front of the plate, but Bowman wisely let it roll foul and Reyes eventually popped up. Katie Baron then grounded back to Matazinsky to end the inning.
Monmouth got a leadoff single from Flores in the fourth before Rachel Shotzbarger roped a double to center. Flores, who would've scored easily on the play, had to stop at third when the ball bounced over the fence. After Meagan Newton-Pender was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Matazinsky got Emma Hill swinging for out number two. Chloe Howerth then sent a grounder towards the hole at short. Reinhardt's only play was at third, but the throw was late and Flores crossed the plate. However, the umpires conferred and ruled that Shotzbarger had interfered with Reinhardt on her way from second to third, calling her out and preserving Manhattan's 1-0 lead.
Manhattan finally gave its pitcher some breathing room in the sixth. Mickayla Romero (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Bowman led off the inning with back-to-back singles before Paxson drew a walk to load the bases. Vazquez then delivered a two-run double to left center that made it 3-0 Jaspers. After Sydney Weedon (North Tustin, Calif.) walked to load the bases again, Matazinsky helped her own cause with a single to center that knocked in a pair of runs. She then came out for the top of the seventh and worked around a leadoff error to close out a five-hit shutout.
With a pair of hits in game two, including the home run, Bowman moved her season average back over .500. She also scored twice. Vazquez, meanwhile, finished 1-for-3 with two RBIs. In addition to her 2-for-3, two-RBI performance at the plate, Matazinsky (6-3) struck out two and walked two in her second shutout victory of the season.
Flores was 2-for-3 again in game two, giving her four of the Hawks' nine hits in the twinbill. Hill and Shotzbarger added doubles, while Reyes singled for the other Monmouth hit. Amanda Riley (2-5) lasted five-plus innings in the circle. She allowed three runs on four hits and walked one. Sniffen relieved her in the sixth and surrendered two runs on two hits while posting two walks and two strikeouts.
After going 9-1 on their 10-game homestand, the Jaspers now hit the road for each of their next 12 contests. Manhattan begins the stretch with a non-conference twinbill at Fairleigh Dickinson (7-15) that gets underway at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. The Knights are one of just two visiting teams to win at Gaelic Park this season, having notched an 8-4 victory over the Jaspers on March 13.
