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RIVERDALE, N.Y. - Kelsi Redding (Tucson, Ariz.) pitched a six-hit shutout to lead the Manhattan College softball team (5-26) to a 5-0 victory over Quinnipiac (23-13) in the opening game of a doubleheader at Gaelic Park on Wednesday. The Bobcats held off a late Jasper rally to notch a 3-2 win in the second game.
Redding was the beneficiary of some great defense throughout the contest, including an unusual double play in the third. With the game still tied at 0-0, Quinnipiac's first two batters of the inning reached on infield singles. After the runners moved to second and third on a groundout, Manhattan catcher Carla Velasquez (Miami, Fla.) caught Lauren Salgado too far off third base. The Jaspers got Salgado at third, then threw down to second, where center fielder Jen Keller (Woodridge, N.J.) tagged out Christy Cabrera to end the inning. The Jaspers then turned another unconventional double play in top of the fourth when Jocelin Whitmore (La Habra, Calif.) threw out Alex Alba trying to advance from second to third on a fly out to right.
After leaving six runners on base through three innings, the Jaspers finally broke through in the bottom of the fourth. Quinnipiac starter Hannah Lindsley walked the bases loaded with two out, and Amanda Paxson (Cedar Grove, N.J.) came across on a wild pitch to score the game's first run. Manhattan added two more in the bottom of the fifth when Paxson smacked a two-run double to left center.
The Bobcats left the bases loaded in the top of the sixth, then Manhattan collected a pair of insurance tallies in the bottom half of the inning. Kate Bowen (Newtown, Conn.) and Amanda Babcock (Haverstraw, N.Y.) knocked back-to-back doubles leading off the inning, and Babcock scored Manhattan's fifth run on Whitmore's RBI single to center. Quinnipiac put a pair of runners on with one out in the top of the seventh, but the game ended on the Jaspers' third double play of the contest, as Whitmore retired Jacquie Ristow at first on Alba's fly out to right.
Bowen went 3-for-3 and scored a run, while Sydney Weedon (Santa Ana, Calif.) was 2-for-3 with a run scored. Paxson had a 1-for-2 outing. She also scored a run and drove in a pair. As a team, the Jaspers collected nine hits in the contest. Redding (2-8) struck out eight and walked six.
Six different Bobcats had hits in the contest. Lindsley (0-1) yielded five runs on nine hits, struck out five and walked six in six innings of work.
Quinnipiac built an early cushion in game two when Alba belted a two-run homer in the top of the first inning. In the bottom of the third, Babcock crushed a long home run to cut the Jaspers' deficit in half, but the Bobcats got that run back on an RBI single by Ashley Heiberger in the top of the fourth.
It looked like the Bobcats would pick up another run in the fifth, but the Manhattan defense again came up big. Cabrera led off the inning with a bunt single, then moved to third on a single by Alba. After Alba stole second, Mina Duffy went down swinging for the second out. Nikki Barba followed with a ground ball to right, but Whitmore came up throwing and got the out at first before Cabrera was able to score, keeping the margin at 3-1.
With the Jaspers still trailing 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh, Paxson led off the inning with a long home run to left center. Heather Schwartzburg came in to pitch after the Paxson homer, and she walked Kelly Murray (Leominster, Mass.), the first batter she faced, to put the tying run on base. Pinch runner Anna Gallacher (New Fairfield, Conn.) moved to second on a Bowen single, but Schwartzburg got the final two outs to preserve the Bobcats' 3-2 victory.
The Jaspers were held to four hits in game two, the two home runs, as well as a single and a double by Bowen. Bowen (2-8) also went the distance in the circle. She surrendered three runs on seven hits, struck out four and walked one.
Cabrera, Alba and Heiberger all tallied two hits for the Bobcats in game two. Cabrera (3-6) also earned the win in the circle. She went six innings, giving up two runs on three hits, while striking out four and walking four. Schwartzburg earned her third save of the year after allowing a hit and a walk with a pair of strikeouts in one inning.
Manhattan continues its six-game homestand with its first home Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) doubleheader on Saturday. The Jaspers (0-4 MAAC) take on Canisius (11-26, 3-3 MAAC) at 12 p.m. on Saturday at Gaelic Park.
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