Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
RIVERDALE, N.Y. – It was a windy afternoon at Gaelic Park on Saturday. And that was just fine with the Manhattan College softball team. The Jaspers (12-8, 4-0 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference) hit seven home runs in an 18-1 rout of Saint Peter's (1-20, 0-6 MAAC), then took the second game of the doubleheader by a 2-1 count on a Mickayla Romero (Las Vegas, Nev.) long ball.
The wind proved to be a factor immediately, as a Saint Peter's throwing error led to two Manhattan runs in the first inning of game one. Jaspers starter Amy Bright (Manlius, N.Y.), meanwhile, struck out five of the first six Peacocks she faced before a solo home run by Candice Koch leading off the third.
However, Manhattan erupted for 11 runs in the bottom half of the inning. Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, N.Y.) started the barrage with a grand slam to left center before the Jaspers re-loaded the bases for Romero, and she delivered an RBI single to make it 7-2. The Peacocks then decided to intentionally walk Elena Bowman (San Mateo, Calif.) with the bases loaded, but the move didn't pay off, as Amanda Paxson (Cedar Grove, N.J.) knocked in a run with a ground ball to second, then Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, Conn.) crushed a long three-run blast to center field. Sydney Weedon (North Tustin, Calif.) was up next, and she went deep to left. It was Manhattan's highest-scoring inning since also putting up an 11-spot in a 13-1 win over Rider on April 13, 2013.
Anna Crowley (Eastchester, N.Y.) joined the party in the fourth, when she led off the inning with a pinch-hit blast to left center. With two out, Romero belted her third home run of the year, a solo shot to left. After Bowman singled, Paxson got in on the act with a drive to right center. Vazquez then crushed Manhattan's fourth home run of the inning (and her second in as many at-bats) to put the Jaspers up 18-1. The four home runs in the inning were one shy of matching the NCAA record.
“I saw two good pitches and I drove both of them,” Vazquez said. “And five other people did the same thing. We're all contributing. It was a good day for all of us.”
Bright (7-4), meanwhile, retired the Peacocks in order in the fifth to complete a three-hitter. The only run she gave up was on the homer, and she struck out nine while walking just one.
Half of Manhattan's 14 hits in the contest were home runs, and every Jaspers starter scored at least one run. Vazquez finished 3-for-4 with two homers, three runs scored and four RBIs, while Paxson ended up 2-for-3 with three runs and four driven in. Reinhardt also collected four RBIs on her grand slam. Romero had three hits and scored three times, and Weedon and Emily Cutler (Bloomingdale, N.J.) both crossed the plate twice. Weedon reached base all four times she came to the plate, posting a single, a homer and two walks.
“Offense is contagious,” Head Coach Tom Pardalis said. “Once somebody gets a big hit, the next person gets a lot of confidence and the other team gets down a little bit. It seemed like we saw the ball really well and we were driving everything.”
Singles by Kirsten Kelley and Nicole Olmedo were the only other Saint Peter's hits in game one. Crystal Carlucci (0-10) took the loss in the circle. She gave up 18 runs (16 earned) on 14 hits, walked seven and struck out one over four innings.
Game two was vastly different than the opener, as Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, N.Y.) engaged in a pitcher's duel with Alyssa Ruiz. The Peacocks took a 1-0 lead on a Taylor Corretjer homer in the top of the first, but Manhattan tied the game without the benefit of a hit in the bottom half of the inning. Cutler drew a leadoff walk, then Bowman was put on intentionally (for the third time in the twinbill) before Paxson was hit by a pitch. Vazquez then worked a walk, forcing in Cutler and making it a 1-1 game.
Neither side was able to break through again until Romero led off the bottom of the fifth with a home run to straightaway center field. The Peacocks, who had managed just a Corretjer single off Matazinsky since the first inning, got a two-out double from Nicole Olmedo in the top of the sixth. Samantha Storms then reached on an infield single, putting runners on second and third with two out, before Matazinsky retired Francesca D'Amato on a grounder to short.
After Manhattan didn't add to its lead in the bottom of the sixth, Matazinsky quickly got the first two outs of the seventh. Carlucci kept the Peacocks alive with a pinch-hit single to center before Stacey Klempel tried to beat out a bunt. However, Bowman's throw to first just beat the runner, finishing off the Jaspers' 2-1 victory and giving Manhattan its seventh consecutive doubleheader sweep of Saint Peter's.
In game two, the Jaspers managed just five hits, four singles and Romero's homer. Romero and Vazquez picked up RBIs, while Cutler scored the other Manhattan run. Matazinsky (4-2) earned the win after surrendering just one run on five hits with five strikeouts and a walk in a complete game effort.
Corretjer had two of the five Saint Peter's hits in game two, including the homer that accounted for the Peacocks' only run. Ruiz (0-3) took the loss after yielding two runs on five hits while walking five and striking out three over six innings.
Manhattan continues its 10-game homestand on Tuesday afternoon, when Columbia (6-16) comes to Gaelic Park for a non-conference twinbill that gets underway at 2 p.m.