Manhattan University Athletics

Manhattan-George Mason Box Score
Manhattan-UMass Lowell Box Score

MADEIRA BEACH, FL – After opening the season with two games on Friday, the Manhattan College softball team returned to action with another pair of contests at the EMU Madeira Beach Invitational Presented by HumaneX on Saturday.  The Jaspers (2-2) picked up a 9-7 victory over George Mason (2-1) in their first game of the day, then suffered a 9-0 defeat against UMass Lowell (1-2).

Against George Mason, the Jaspers used the long ball to jump in front early.  Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, NY) crushed a two-run homer in the top of the second, and Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, CT) made it 5-0 with a long three-run shot in the third.  The Patriots got one back in the bottom of the third, but Manhattan immediately responded in the top of the fourth, when Shannon Puthe (Mullica Hill, NJ) doubled and was knocked in on Alexa Dawid's (Milford, CT) RBI single.

Puthe got another Manhattan rally started in the top of the sixth.  She led off the inning with a single up the middle, then stole second before scoring on a base hit by Emily Cutler (Bloomingdale, NJ).  After Dawid walked, Lauren Pitney (Ansonia, CT) ripped an RBI single that increased the Jaspers' lead to 8-1.  Vazquez singled to load the bases with one out, and Matazinsky followed with a sacrifice fly to left that put Manhattan up 9-1.

Stephanie Kristo (San Jose, CA) was brilliant in her first collegiate start, allowing just one run over the first five innings before the Patriots finally got to her in the sixth.  George Mason scored six runs in the frame to pull within 9-7.  With two out and the tying run on first, Head Coach Tom Pardalis summoned Matazinsky out of the bullpen, and she struck out Jess Middleton looking to end the threat.  Matazinsky then worked around a leadoff single in the bottom of the seventh to close out the 9-7 victory.

Manhattan pounded out 12 hits in the game, with Vazquez going 3-for-4 with two runs scored and three RBIs.  Matazinsky went 2-for-3 with a run scored and three RBIs, and she earned the save after tossing 1.1 innings of one-hit, shutout relief.  She also struck out a batter.  Puthe, meanwhile, finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored.  Kristo (2-0) picked up the win after yielding five runs on eight hits with three strikeouts and two walks in 5.1 innings.  Erin Hamm (Collegeville, PA) went 0.1 innings in the circle, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits while striking out one and walking one.

For the Patriots, Sarah Solano went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.  Casey Price was 2-for-4 with two RBIs, while Julia Czarnecki ended up 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.  Sarah Kleinfelter (1-1) took the loss after surrendering five runs on four hits, striking out two and walking one in 2.1 innings of work.  Gabriella Lopez gave up four runs on eight hits and three walks over the final 4.2 innings.

In Manhattan's second game of the day, UMass Lowell jumped ahead immediately on Alyssa Zinkewicz's two-run homer in the top of the first.  The Riverhawks added another run on an Alisha Welch RBI double in the second, then erupted for five in the top of the fourth and one more in the fifth.

The Jaspers, meanwhile, were shut down by UMass Lowell starter Kaysee Talcik.  Talcik had a perfect game going when Pitney broke it up with a one-out single in the fourth.  That would prove to be Manhattan's only hit of the contest.  The Jaspers' only other baserunner came when Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, NY) reached on an error in the bottom of the fifth.

Danielle Gabriel (Island Heights, NJ) (0-1) started in the circle for Manhattan and took the loss.  She allowed seven runs (six earned) on nine hits, struck out one and walked five over three innings.  Anna Crowley (Eastchester, NY) went two innings out of the bullpen and was charged with two runs (one earned), one hit and two walks.

Talcik (1-0) struck out one in her one-hit shutout.  Offensively, Welch led the Riverhawks with a 3-for-3 effort.  She scored two runs and drove in another.  Brianna West went 2-for-2 at the plate with a run scored and two RBIs, while Zinkewicz finished 1-for-2 with two runs scored and two RBIs.