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Box Score 2 Manhattan-Quinnipiac Box Score
Manhattan-Monmouth Box Score
POUGHKEEPSIE, NY – On Thursday, the Manhattan College softball team saw its 2016 season come to an end with a pair of losses in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament. After opening the day with a 1-0 loss to sixth-seeded Quinnipiac (28-27), the second-seeded Jaspers (30-21) dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 4 Monmouth (27-20) in the elimination round at Marist's Gartland Field.
Manhattan's contest against Quinnipiac was a pitchers' duel between Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, NY) and Casey Herzog. Matazinsky gave up a leadoff single in the first before retiring the next nine Bobcats she faced. Herzog, meanwhile, allowed only one base runner over the first three innings on Alexa Dawid's (Milford, CT) two-out single in the second.
Elena Bowman (San Mateo, CA) led off the bottom of the fourth with her 200th career hit—a single to center, then Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, CT) reached on an error to put runners on first and second with nobody out. After Matazinsky moved pinch runner Madison Bailey (Phoenix, AZ) to third on a fly out to right, Lauren Pitney (Ansonia, CT) lifted a fly ball to center. It was too shallow for Bailey to score, but Vazquez tried to advance on the throw home, and Quinnipiac got her at second for an inning-ending double play.
Bowman came up again with one down in the bottom of the sixth, and she deposited a single to the gap in right center. After moving to second on a passed ball, she took third on Vazquez's deep fly ball to right. However, Herzog retired Matazinsky on a grounder back to the circle, sending the contest into the seventh inning still scoreless.
With two down in the top of the seventh, Matazinsky issued the only walk of the game to Erin Larsen. Dani Edmands moved the runner to second with a base hit that was just fair down the right field line before Herzog knocked in the game's lone run with a single to center. She then retired the Jaspers in order in the bottom half of the inning to send the Bobcats into Friday's winner's bracket final and force Manhattan to play an elimination contest later in the day.
Matazinsky (11-7) suffered her third 1-0 loss of the year. She pitched a complete game four-hitter with seven strikeouts. Quinnipiac's run in the top of the seventh snapped her streak of 17 consecutive scoreless innings. Bowman and Dawid each singled twice for Manhattan's four hits.
Herzog (13-13) held the Jaspers to four hits and struck out five without a walk in her complete game shutout. She also drove in the game's only run.
A few hours later, Manhattan returned to the field needing a victory over Monmouth to extend its season.
Erin Hamm (Collegeville, PA) got the ball in the must-win game, and she worked around two hit batters in the first inning before getting out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam in the second. After an error and a hit batter started the Monmouth third, Anna Crowley (Eastchester, NY) entered in relief of Hamm. She gave up singles to the first two batters she faced and hit the third, which gave the Hawks a 2-0 lead. Crowley limited the damage after that, though, striking out the next two hitters, then getting an inning-ending popup.
Crowley cut the Jaspers' deficit in half with a solo home run to left center in the bottom of the third. Manhattan then tied it in the fourth. Vazquez drew a one-out walk and Matazinsky followed with a single down the right field line. Pitney was up next, and she battled back from an 0-2 count (fouling several balls off) to draw a walk and load the bases. Dawid then sent a grounder to second that was mishandled for an error, allowing the Jaspers to tie the game. However, Monmouth starter Amanda Riley would keep it that way, as Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, NY) popped up before Crowley struck out to end the inning.
After Crowley gave up a leadoff single in the seventh, Head Coach Tom Pardalis turned to Matazinsky, who had tossed a complete game earlier in the day. She allowed an infield single to Justene Reyes, then Jill Freese belted a three-run homer to left that gave the Hawks a 5-2 lead. Riley retired the Jaspers in order in the bottom of the seventh, ending Manhattan's season.
The Jaspers were held to just two hits in the contest—Crowley's homer and Matazinsky's single. Crowley (1-1) suffered a tough-luck loss after tossing four-plus innings of solid relief. She was charged with one run on four hits with three strikeouts. Hamm went two-plus innings, allowing two runs (one earned) on three hits and striking out one. Matazinsky yielded two runs on two hits in the seventh.
For the Hawks, Emma Hill and Nicole Wieczorek both went 2-for-4, and Wieczorek added an RBI. Freese, meanwhile, finished 2-for-4 with a run scored and three RBIs. Rachel Shotzbarger was 1-for-3 with two runs scored. Riley (11-7) earned the win after yielding two runs on two hits while striking out four and walking four in a complete game effort. She allowed just seven hits in 14.1 innings over three appearances against the Jaspers in 2016.
This season, Manhattan won 30 games for the first time since 1993 and set a program record with 14 MAAC victories. Bowman ends her career as the Jaspers' all-time leader in home runs (52), and her 154 RBIs are second on the all-time list. She's also one of just three players in program history with 200 career hits.
