Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
TEANECK, N.J. – After playing 10 straight contests at Gaelic Park (and posting a 9-1 record in that span), the Manhattan College softball team began a 12-game road trip with a non-conference doubleheader at Fairleigh Dickinson on Tuesday afternoon. The Knights (9-17) won the first game 4-0 before the Jaspers (18-10), on the strength of two Elena Bowman (San Mateo, Calif.) posted a 9-5 victory in the nightcap at FDU Softball Field.
Amy Bright (Manlius, N.Y.) extended her streak to 24 consecutive scoreless innings in game one before the Knights broke through in the fourth. Angelique Nieves led off the inning with a single and moved to third on Bryana Dorado's double before Courtney Slye lifted a sacrifice fly to center. Fairleigh Dickinson picked up three more runs in the sixth on back-to-back homers by Madison Lerma, a two-run shot, and Slye.
The Manhattan offense, meanwhile, was unable to get anything going against Loren Stavrou. After singles by Mickayla Romero (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Bowman in the first, the Jaspers were held to just one more hit in the contest, a two-out single by Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, Conn.) in the fourth.
Stavrou (2-7) tossed a complete game three-hitter for the Knights. She struck out six and walked one. Nieves went 2-for-3 with a run scored while Dorado had a pair of doubles and scored a run. Lerma ended up 1-for-3 with a run scored and two RBIs, and Slye finished 1-for-2 with a run scored and two RBIs.
For the Jaspers, Bright (10-5) went four innings in the circle. She took the loss after allowing one run on three hits while striking out six and not issuing a walk. Anna Crowley (Eastchester, N.Y.) tossed 1.1 innings of relief, giving up three runs on four hits with two strikeouts. Erin Hamm (Collegeville, Pa.) finished up and recorded a strikeout in 0.2 innings.
In game two, Fairleigh Dickinson jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with two runs in the first and another in the second. Bowman cut the Jaspers' deficit to one with a sacrifice fly in the top of the third, but the Knights regained a three-run advantage when Emma DeLuca's RBI double made it 4-1 in the bottom half of the inning.
Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, N.Y.) homered leading off the top of the fourth and Crowley followed with a double. With one out, Rachael Mumma (Mechanicsburg, Pa.), who was making her first career start at second base, roped a single to right for her first collegiate hit and RBI, cutting Fairleigh Dickinson's lead to 4-3.
Bowman tied the game with the first of her two home runs leading off the fifth inning. After Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, N.Y.) and Vazquez walked, Reinhardt gave the Jaspers the lead with an RBI single up the middle. Madison Bailey (Phoenix, Ariz.) ripped an RBI single of her own before a two-run single by Romero made it 8-4.
Fairleigh Dickinson got one back in the bottom of the fifth, prompting Head Coach Tom Pardalis to summon Matazinsky out of the bullpen. She walked the first batter she faced before inducing a Nieves groundout to end the inning. The Jaspers immediately responded in the top of the sixth, as Bowman went yard for the second time in as many at-bats. Matazinsky shut the door on the Knights from there, earning her first collegiate save in Manhattan's 9-5 win.
Manhattan pounded out 11 hits as a team in game two. Bowman belted two home runs and had three RBIs, while Reinhardt finished 2-for-2 with two walks, two runs scored and two RBIs. Romero also collected a pair of hits and drove in two, and Mumma finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.
Danielle Gabriel (Island Heights, N.J.), who had missed the Jaspers' last 23 games due to illness, made her first start in the circle since March 8. She went three innings, yielding four runs on six hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Hamm (1-0) earned the win in relief after surrendering one run on two hits while walking two. Matazinsky gave up one hit, struck out two and walked two over the final 2.1 innings.
Madelaine Wilen went 2-for-5 with a run scored and two RBIs for the Knights, while Lerma also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4. Starting pitcher Cheryl Lopez (0-4) gave up eight runs on nine hits over seven innings and took the loss. She struck out one and walked seven. Stavrou tossed two innings of relief and yielded one run on two hits while striking out two and walking one.
On Saturday, the first-place Jaspers (8-0 MAAC) resume their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) slate with a 12 p.m. doubleheader at Quinnipiac (8-25, 4-6 MAAC). It will be the first of four consecutive MAAC twinbills that Manhattan will play on the road.
