Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
RIVERDALE, NY – On Saturday afternoon, the Manhattan College softball team began an eight-game homestand with a doubleheader against Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) rival Niagara. The Jaspers (20-16, 5-5 MAAC) won the opener by a 4-1 count before the Purple Eagles (5-29, 3-5 MAAC) earned a split with a 5-3 victory in game two at Gaelic Park.
In game one, Manhattan struck early, putting four runs on the board in the first three innings. With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the first, Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, NY) hit a line drive to second base. Niagara went for the double play at first, but the throw was high, allowing Elena Bowman (San Mateo, CA) to score the game's first run.
Alexa Dawid (Milford, CT) led off the second with a double to right center, then, after a sacrifice bunt by Emily Cutler (Bloomingdale, NJ), Shannon Puthe (Mullica Hill, NJ) connected for a two-run blast to right. Her first career home run put the Jaspers up 3-0. Manhattan made it 4-0 in the third when Anna Crowley (Eastchester, NY) hit a leadoff triple off the top of the wall in center field and scored on Stephanie Reinhardt's (Albany, NY) groundout.
Matazinsky, meanwhile, held the Niagara offense in check. The Purple Eagles stranded 10 runners over the first six innings before finally getting to the Manhattan hurler in the seventh. After back-to-back singles by Chanelle Ward and Bridget Hogan, pinch hitter Erin Bohan drew a walk to load the bases. Head Coach Tom Pardalis then turned to Crowley in relief. She walked the first batter she faced, forcing in a run, before inducing a grounder back to the circle. The Jaspers got the out at home on the play, then Crowley retired Brianna Clark on a lineout, and Manhattan held on for a 4-1 victory.
Puthe had a single to go along with her two-run homer, finishing 2-for-4 with a run scored and two RBIs from the leadoff spot. As a team, Manhattan tallied seven hits in the game, four of which went for extra bases. Matazinsky (7-5) tossed 6.1 innings in the circle and was charged with one run on six hits with one strikeout and five walks. Crowley picked up her third save after allowing a walk in 0.2 innings of scoreless, hitless relief.
Sarah March and Jerri Ann Orfano each had two of Niagara's six hits, while Orfano was also credited with an RBI. Sierra Bertrand (4-7) went four innings in the circle and took the loss. She yielded four runs on seven hits, struck out three and walked three. Sydney Smyers pitched to six batters, retiring them all, including one strikeout.
The Jaspers wore special camouflage jerseys in support of the Wounded Warrior Project, and Wounded Warrior Jason Polarek threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to game two.
Once game two began, Niagara took advantage of two first-inning errors to jump out to an early 2-0 lead. Manhattan struck right back in the bottom of the first, though. Puthe drew a leadoff walk, then Bowman singled and Lauren Pitney (Ansonia, CT) was hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. After Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, CT) grounded into a double play, Matazinsky tied the game with a two-run single down the right field line.
Reinhardt led off the bottom of the second with a single to left. Base hits by Cutler and Puthe then loaded the bases with one out for Bowman, and she delivered a single to right that gave the Jaspers a 3-2 advantage.
It would remain that way until the top of the sixth, when Niagara put up a three-spot. After the Purple Eagles started the inning with infield singles by Taylor Moody and Sarah Trifoso, another infield single by Victoria Bretz loaded the bases with no out. The tying run came across when March was hit by a pitch, and Ward followed with a two-run single that put Niagara up 5-3.
After leaving a runner on first in the bottom of the sixth, Manhattan brought the tying run to the plate again in the bottom of the seventh. With Matazinsky on first, Dawid struck out before pinch hitter Victoria Ross (Bloomfield, NJ) sent a liner to second that Moody was able to corral for the final out in the Purple Eagles' 5-3 triumph.
Bowman reached base all four times she came up in game two, going 2-for-2 with two runs, a run scored and an RBI. Matazinsky was 1-for-2 with two RBIs, while Pitney and Reinhardt each scored a run. Starting pitcher Stephanie Kristo (San Jose, CA) took the loss after allowing four runs (two earned) on six hits in 5.1 innings. She struck out four and walked one. Crowley gave up a run on two hits before Erin Hamm (Collegeville, PA) retired all five batters she faced. Hamm recorded two strikeouts in her 1.2 innings of work.
For Niagara, March and Trifoso both went 1-for-3 in game two. March also drove in a run, while Trifoso scored once. After tossing two innings of relief in the opener, Smyers (1-9) started game two and lasted five innings. She surrendered three runs on seven hits, struck out three and walked three. Bertrand didn't allow a hit over two hitless, scoreless frames to earn the save. She recorded one walk and one strikeout.
Manhattan returns to action on Sunday with an 11 a.m. twinbill against Canisius (14-26, 5-3 MAAC). It will be the first meeting between the squads since the 2015 MAAC Tournament, when the Jaspers eliminated the top-seeded Griffs on their home field.
