Manhattan-Butler Box Score
Manhattan-Youngstown State Box Score
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - On Sunday afternoon, the Manhattan College dropped a pair of heartbreaking one-run, extra-inning decisions at the Rebel Spring Games. In their first game of the day, the Lady Jaspers fell to Butler (4-5) in eight innings, 3-2. Manhattan (3-5) went to eight innings again against Youngstown State (9-5) before falling 4-3 to the Penguins at the Osceola County Sports Complex.
In Manhattan's game against Butler, the Bulldogs got on the board first with a second-inning run. The Lady Jaspers got that run back in the bottom of the third. After Amanda Babcock (Haverstraw, N.Y.) drew a leadoff walk, Kristina Walraven (Thompson Ridge, N.Y.) ripped a two-out double that tied the game. Manhattan struck again in the bottom of the fourth. Nicole Michel (Massapequa, N.Y.) and Carla Velasquez (Miami, Fla.) both walked, bringing up Babcock with one out. She ripped an infield single to shortstop, and the throw to first was off-line. Michel scored on the error to put the Lady Jaspers in front 2-1.
Butler threatened in the top of the fifth, loading the bases with one out. However, Melissa Donnelly (Long Beach, N.Y.) struck out Erin Jackson, then got Kayla Gray to pop up, ending the inning. The Bulldogs tied it on an unearned run in the top of the seventh, and the Lady Jaspers went down 1-2-3 in their half of the inning to send the contest into extra innings.
The international tiebreaker was used, meaning each team would have a runner placed on second base to begin each extra inning. Lauren McNulty was placed on second for Butler in the top half of the inning, and she moved to third on Erin Falkenberry's sacrifice bunt. The Bulldogs then took the lead when Jessica Huey lifted a sacrifice fly to left field. Manhattan had a chance to answer in the bottom of the eighth, but Jenny Esparza struck out the side to give Butler the victory.
Manhattan was held to just three hits in the game, singles by Babcock and Michel and Walraven's RBI double. Donnelly (0-2) suffered a tough-luck loss in the circle. She went the distance, giving up three runs (one earned) on five hits, striking out five and walking two.
Five different players had hits for Butler, with Lauren Ott's double the only one going for extra bases. Esparza was brilliant in 5.1 innings in the circle. She got the start, then re-entered in the seventh, striking out all six batters she faced over the final two innings. Overall, Esparza (1-3) yielded just two runs (one earned) and one hit while striking out 13 and walking four. Breanna Fisher tossed 2.2 innings of scoreless relief, surrendering two hits with a walk and a strikeout.
Just 20 minutes later, the Lady Jaspers took on Youngstown State, and Manhattan jumped out to an early lead on Jaci Rahey's (West Milford, N.J.) solo home run in the top of the first. Rahey then drew a leadoff walk to begin another Manhattan rally in the sixth. Donnelly then singled to give the Lady Jaspers two on with nobody out. After a fielder's choice, both runners moved up on a groundout. Kate Bowen (Newtown, Conn.) was up next, and she singled through the hole in the right side to increase Manhattan's lead to 2-0. The Lady Jaspers then picked up an insurance run on a passed ball.
Bowen had been cruising through five innings in the circle, giving up just a pair of singles, before the Penguins got to her in the bottom of the sixth. Haley Thomas roped a double to left-center to start the inning, then scored on Kristina Rendle's single up the middle. Youngstown State then tied the game on Vicky Rumph's two-run homer. Each team threatened in the seventh, but failed to score, sending the game into extra innings, the Lady Jaspers' second extra-inning contest of the day.
Donnelly was placed on second to start Mahattan's half of the inning, and Michel dropped down a sacrifice bunt to put the go-ahead run on third with one out. With Monica Evangelista (Cedar Grove, N.J.) batting, Donnelly tried to steal home, but she was tagged out by Youngstown State catcher Amanda Palmore before she was able to cross the plate. Evangelista then grounded to short to end the top of the eighth.
The Penguins employed a similar strategy in the bottom of the eighth, dropping down a bunt to move the winning run to third with one out. After Rumph walked, Sarah Gabel lifted a fly ball to left that gave Youngstown State the victory.
Bowen was Manhattan's hitting star against Youngstown State, going 2-for-3 with an RBI. Overall, the Lady Jaspers had six hits in the game. Bowen also got the start in the circle and was effective over 6.1 innings. She yielded three runs on six hits, struck out one and walked two. Ashley Rampino (Manalapan, N.J.) relieved her in the seventh and took the loss. Rampino (1-2) worked 1.1 innings, giving up an unearned run and a hit. She also had one walk and one strikeout.
For the Penguins, Thomas, Rendle and Rumph had two hits apiece. The trio accounted for six of Youngstown State's seven hits in the game. Rumph drove in a pair, while Rendle scored twice. Hana Somogyi got the start in the circle and lasted five innings. She surrendered three runs (two earned) on four hits, struck out six and walked three. Casey Crozier (6-3) earned the win after tossing three innings of scoreless relief. She gave up just two hits, walked one and struck out one.
Manhattan has Monday off before concluding the Rebel Spring Games with a pair of games on Tuesday and two more on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Lady Jaspers face Eastern Illinois (7-5) at 1 p.m. and take on Akron (6-6) at 5 p.m.
To follow Manhattan Athletics on Twitter, go to twitter.com/GoJaspers or visit Manhattan's Facebook fan page.
