Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. – Over the past two seasons, Iona has been the thorn in the side of the Manhattan College softball team. The Gaels beat the Jaspers in four of five meetings last year, including a victory in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship Game.
On Sunday afternoon, Manhattan and Iona met for the first time since that contest, playing a doubleheader at Donald Walsh Field. And once again, the Gaels (12-22, 9-5 MAAC) got the best of the Jaspers (20-12, 10-2 MAAC), notching a 7-6 extra-inning victory in the opener of the twinbill before rallying for a 9-5 triumph in game two.
After Iona took a 1-0 lead in Christine Costello's triple in the first inning of game one, the Jaspers knotted the score when Emily Cutler (Bloomingdale, N.J.) scored on Jenn Vazquez's (Fairfield, Conn.) bases-loaded ground ball to short in the third. The Gaels immediately countered with a solo home run by Allison Hand in the bottom of the third, and Costello made it 6-1 with a grand slam in the fifth.
Anna Crowley (Eastchester, N.Y.), whose Little League team was in attendance as a part of Iona's Little League Appreciation Day, led off the sixth inning with an infield single before Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, N.Y.) roped an RBI double that brought Manhattan within 6-2.
In the top of the seventh, Amanda Paxson (Cedar Grove, N.J.) and Vazquez ripped one-out singles before Crowley flied out to left. Reinhardt then walked to load the bases, sending the tying run to the plate in the person of Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, N.Y.), who hit a grand slam as part of a six-RBI effort against Quinnipiac on Saturday. With the Jaspers down to their last strike, she did it again, crushing a shot to straightaway center that tied the game at 6-6. Erin Hamm (Collegeville, Pa) retired the Gaels in order in the bottom of the seventh, capping her third perfect inning of relief and sending the contest into an extra frame.
Neither side scored in the eighth, and, after Sarah McMahon set the Jaspers down in the top of the ninth, Iona finally got to Hamm in the bottom half of the inning. Lauren Filardi led off with a single to left before Hand followed with a base hit up the middle. Crowley then came in to pitch for Manhattan. She induced a grounder to deep short and Reinhardt tried to get the lead runner at third. However, her throw was wide of the bag and Filardi came across on the error, giving Iona a 7-6, nine-inning victory.
Matazinsky had two of Manhattan's six hits in game one, finishing 2-for-5 with four RBIs. Reinhardt went 1-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while Vazquez was 1-for-5 with an RBI. Amy Bright (Manlius, N.Y.) started in the circle and lasted four-plus innings. She gave up six runs (five earned) on six hits, struck out seven and walked three. Hamm (1-1) took a tough-luck loss after being charged with one unearned run and three hits with a strikeout in four innings.
For the Gaels, Hand went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI, while Ashlyn Morris was 2-for-5 with two runs scored. In addition to going 2-for-3 with a triple, a grand slam and five RBIs, Costello tossed seven innings in the circle. She allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits with seven strikeouts and five walks. McMahon (3-4) earned the win after yielding two walks and striking out one in two innings of hitless relief.
McMahon started for Iona in game two, but Manahttan got to her right away. After Mickayla Romero (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Elena Bowman (San Mateo, Calif.) walked, Paxson doubled to left. Vazquez made it 2-0 Jaspers when she knocked in Bowman on a groundout, and Reinhardt added an RBI single of her own. Vazquez drove in another run when she grounded out with the bases loaded in the top of the second. Matazinsky doubled to left center with one out in the third, then moved to third on a wild pitch before scoring on Madison Bailey's (Phoenix, Ariz.) groundout.
However, the Gaels tied the game with five runs in their half of the third. Katie Newton reached on an error leading off the inning and eventually scored on a wild pitch. After an RBI single by Costello made it 5-2, Sarah Schutz belted a three-run homer to center to knot the score at 5-5.
Iona took the lead in the fourth, scoring three times on four consecutive hits, and picked up another tally in the fifth. There would be no seventh-inning rally for the Jaspers this time, though, as Sydney Weedon (North Tustin, Calif.) was left on first after a one-out walk and the Gaels closed out a 9-5 victory, becoming the first team to sweep Manhattan in a doubleheader this season.
Manhattan had six hits again in game two, with Paxson and Matazinsky recording two hits apiece. Paxson added an RBI and a run scored, while Vazquez collected two RBIs. In the circle, Matazinsky (7-4) suffered her first conference loss of the season after allowing eight runs (seven earned) on five hits in 3.1 innings. She struck out four and walked four. Crowley tossed 0.2 innings of relief, giving up two hits and recording a strikeout, before Danielle Gabriel (Island Heights, N.J.) tossed the final two innings, yielding one run on four hits while striking out four.
Morris, Turner, Costello and Newton all collected two hits for the Gaels, who tallied 11 as a team. Turner and Costello each drove in two runs, while Newton and Hand both scored twice. Schutz, meanwhile, tallied three RBIs on her homer. McMahon lasted one inning in the circle. She surrendered three runs on three hits and three walks. Jordan Courage (4-10) tossed the final six innings and earned the win. She was charged with two runs, three hits and four walks while also picking up a strikeout.
Despite the losses, the Jaspers maintained their hold on first place in the MAAC. Manhattan has a one-game lead over both Canisius (8-2 MAAC) and Fairfield (10-4 MAAC) with eight contests remaining on the conference schedule. The Jaspers square off with the Griffs next Sunday in Buffalo, but first, they head to Sacred Heart (11-24) for a non-conference twinbill at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
