Manhattan University Athletics

Manhattan-Brown Box Score
Manhattan-Santa Clara Box Score

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – The Manhattan College softball team has been mostly about the offense so far this season.  But on Friday, the story was pitching.  Amy Bright (Manlius, N.Y.) hurled an eight-inning, five-hit shutout to give the Jaspers (7-5) a 2-0 win over the host Broncos (8-20) at the Santa Clara Marriott Round Robin on Friday.  Earlier in the day, Manhattan dropped a 3-1 decision to Brown (3-3) at the Santa Clara Softball Field.

Against Brown, the Jaspers fell behind early, as the Bears put a run across in the top of the second.  After being held hitless thru three innings, Manhattan rallied to tie the game in the fourth.  Elena Bowman (San Mateo, Calif.) led off the inning with a single and moved to second on an error.  Amanda Paxson (Cedar Grove, N.J.) then deposited a double to left field that knotted the score at 1-1.

However, the Bears immediately regained the lead on Emily Springfield's two-out, two-run double in the fifth.  In the bottom of the fifth, Manhattan had runners on the corners with two out when Brown decided to intentionally walk Bowman.  The move paid off, as Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, Conn.) popped up to end the inning.  The Jaspers left a runner on in the sixth, but went down in order in the seventh to give Brown a 3-1 victory.

Outside of the two hits in the fourth, a fifth-inning single by Mickayla Romero (Las Vegas, Nev.) represented the Jaspers' only other base knock in the contest.  Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, N.Y.) (2-1) pitched well in a losing effort.  She surrendered three runs on five hits, walked six and struck out one.

Julia Schoenewald had two of Brown's five hits.  She also drove in a run.  Springfield, meanwhile, finished 1-for-3 with two RBIs, and Sarah Syrop crossed the plate twice.  Katie Orona (3-0) earned the win in the circle after allowing just one unearned run on three hits in a complete game effort.  She recorded five strikeouts and three walks.

Manhattan's matchup with Santa Clara turned out to be a pitcher's duel between Bright and Ciara Gonzales.  The Jaspers got a leadoff double from Paxson in the second, but she would end up being the only Manhattan base runner to reach second over the first seven innings.  The Broncos, meanwhile, had runners on first and third with nobody out in the bottom of the fifth before Bright worked out of the jam with a popup, a strikeout and a groundout.

Santa Clara threatened again in the seventh, as Jordan Newell recorded a leadoff single.  However, Bright once again got out of trouble, sending the scoreless contest into an extra frame.

With the international tiebreaker rule in effect, the Jaspers started the eighth inning with a runner on second.  Victoria Ross (Bloomfield, N.J.) promptly bunted Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, N.Y.) over to third before Meredith Bryant (Brielle, N.J.) broke the tie with a double down the left field line.  After Emily Cutler (Bloomingdale, N.J.) struck out, Romero gave Manhattan an insurance tally with an RBI single to center.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Broncos employed the same strategy the Jaspers had used in the top half of the inning—sacrificing the runner to third.  However, that's where she would remain.  Bright retired Cassandra Padilla on a ground ball before Breezy Bernard sent a popup that Romero corralled at third to seal the 2-0 victory.

Cutler had two of Manhattan's six hits in the game.  Bryant went 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, while Romero finished 1-for-4 with an RBI.  Bright (4-3) scattered five hits, struck out six and didn't walk a batter in her fourth career shutout (and first this season).

Newell and Geenamarie Bonilla each recorded a pair of hits for Santa Clara.  Bernard's fourth-inning double was the Broncos' only other hit.  Gonzales (7-9) suffered a tough-luck loss after giving up just two runs (one earned) and six hits with one walk and one strikeout over eight innings in the circle.