Army West Point Takes Two From Manhattan

Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

WEST POINT, NY – The Manhattan College softball team concluded its non-conference schedule on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader at Army West Point.  After the Black Knights (33-17) took the opener at the West Point Softball Complex by a 5-0 count, the Jaspers (24-19) had a seventh-inning rally cut short in game two, a 3-2 loss.

Army West Point plated three runs in the first inning of game one, as Emily Gray roped an RBI single and Maddie Kim delivered a two-out, two-run base hit.

That would be all the offense starting pitcher Caroline Smith needed, who allowed just three Manhattan singles in the game.  The Jaspers' best chance to score off Smith came in the fourth, when Army West Point errors opened the inning with back-to-back errors.  Pinch hitter Victoria Ross (Bloomfield, NJ) walked to load the bases with two out, but Smith got out of the jam when Shannon Puthe (Mullica Hill, NJ) grounded to second.

After Manhattan turned a double play in three consecutive innings to keep the score 3-0, the Black Knights struck for two in the sixth.  Kim reached on a leadoff single before scoring on a pickoff throw that went all the way to the wall in right field.  A sacrifice fly later in the inning made it 5-0, and Smith got a double play in the top of the seventh to cap the shutout.

Stephanie Kristo (San Jose, CA) (5-7) started in the circle for Manhattan and took the loss.  She allowed three runs on five hits, walked four and struck out two in three innings of work.  Anna Crowley (Eastchester, NY) tossed the final three innings, yielding two runs (one earned) on one hit while issuing three walks.

Smith (11-9) struck out three and walked three in the three-hit shutout.  Offensively, Gray and Kim paced the Black Knights with two hits apiece.  Gray knocked in a run and scored another, while Kim registered two RBIs.

In game two, Army West Point again took the early lead with a first-inning run.  Emily Cutler (Bloomingdale, NJ) prevented the Black Knights from having a bigger inning, though, when she gunned down Gray at the plate on Smith's single.

A dropped fly ball in left field led to Manhattan's first run of the day in the top of the third before the Black Knights regained the lead when Kasey McCravey drew a bases loaded walk in the fourth.  The Jaspers immediately responded, though, as Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, CT) crushed a long home run off the scoreboard in left field to even the score at 2-2 in the top of the fifth.  However, Army West Point used a leadoff double, a single and a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning to go back in front, 3-2.

With one out in the top of the seventh, Andi Stallard (Katy, TX) singled up the middle.  Puthe then reached on an infield hit, moving the tying run to second for Elena Bowman (San Mateo, CA).  Bowman worked the count full before sending a scorching one-hopper to second base.  Army West Point's defense was positioned perfectly, though, and the Black Knights turned the double play to end the game.

Puthe had two of the Jaspers' six hits in the contest, while Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, NY) scored the other Manhattan run.  Starting pitcher Danielle Gabriel (Island Heights, NJ) (4-4) went five innings in the circle, giving up three runs on 11 hits with four strikeouts and two walks.  Erin Hamm (Collegeville, PA) pitched a perfect sixth.

Four different Black Knights had two-hit games, as Army West Point collected 11 hits as a team.  McCravey and Gray each went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, while Smith was 2-for-2 with an RBI.  Taylor Gaff added two hits for the Black Knights.  Kristen West (14-3) got the start and lasted six innings.  She yielded two runs (one earned) on four hits, struck out two and walked three.  Renee Poirier picked up her 10^th save despite giving up two hits in the seventh.