Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
RIVERDALE, NY – Entering its final home doubleheader of 2016, the Manhattan College softball team had recorded just two shutout wins all season. The Jaspers doubled that number on Thursday. Manhattan (28-19, 12-6 MAAC) clinched a spot in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament for the third consecutive year with a pair of 8-0 victories over Iona (13-31, 7-11 MAAC) at Gaelic Park.
“Qualifying for the MAAC Tournament is always one of our goals at the start of the season, and it's nice to achieve that goal,” Head Coach Tom Pardalis said. “But that's just the first step. We've still got a lot of work to do.”
Iona had won four straight and seven out of eight against Manhattan since the start of the 2014 campaign, but the Jaspers made it clear from the start that things would be different this time.
After the Gaels stranded runners on second and third in the top of the first in game one, Manhattan scored twice in the bottom half of the inning. Shannon Puthe (Mullica Hill, NJ) led off with a single and stole second before Elena Bowman (San Mateo, CA) walked. Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, CT) reached on an error to load the bases with nobody out for Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, NY), who lifted a sacrifice fly to center. Alexa Dawid (Milford, CT) then ripped an RBI single to make it 2-0 Manhattan.
Manhattan added three more in the third. Vazquez and Matazinsky started the inning with back-to-back singles, and they both scored on Dawid's single to center. That base knock chased Iona starter Christine Costello. However, reliever Jessica Harkness was charged with a wild pitch and a balk on her first two offerings, allowing Dawid to come across and make it 5-0.
The Gaels loaded the bases with two out in the top of the fourth, but Matazinsky struck out pinch hitter Carly Argyle to end the inning and, as it would turn out, Iona's only threat of the day. Manhattan then extended its advantage with a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth. Lauren Pitney (Ansonia, CT) drew a one-out walk and moved to third on Dawid's double. After Victoria Ross (Bloomfield, NJ) walked to load the bases, Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, NY) sent a long fly ball to left. She just missed a game-ending grand slam, settling for a ground-rule double that increased the Jaspers' cushion to 7-0.
Ross tried to end the game by dashing home on an errant pitch, but she was thrown out at the plate. The Jaspers did get a walk-off run in the sixth, when Vazquez smoked a double to left center that drove in Puthe, who had led off the inning with a walk.
With the 8-0 victory, the Jaspers snapped a six-game home losing streak to Iona. It was Manhattan's first home win over the Gaels since April 19, 2008.
Dawid and Puthe both finished 3-for-3 with two runs scored in the contest, while Dawid added three RBIs. Vazquez was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, and Reinhardt ended up 1-for-3 with two RBIs. In addition to going 1-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI, Matazinsky (10-6) threw a six-inning, four-hit shutout. She struck out two and walked one.
Costello (5-10) took the loss after yielding five runs (four earned) on six hits with a walk and a strikeout in 2.1 innings. Harkness surrendered three runs on four hits while walking three and striking out one in three innings of relief.
It was more of the same in game two, as the Jaspers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Pitney ripped a two-run double to left before scoring on Reinhardt's RBI single to right. Manhattan picked up another run in the second when Emily Cutler (Bloomingdale, NJ) came across on a Vazquez groundout. A bases loaded walk to Pitney in the fourth extended the Jaspers' advantage to 5-0.
In the bottom of the fifth, Reinhardt drew a leadoff walk, then, after Rachael Mumma (Mechanicsburg, PA) reached on an error, Cutler bunted the runners over to second and third. Puthe followed with a walk to load the bases for Bowman in her final Gaelic Park at-bat. She sent a scorching line drive to shortstop, but it was snagged for the second out. Vazquez was up next, and she drove in two runs with a ground ball up the middle before Matazinsky ended the contest early with an RBI single to left.
Vazquez ended up 3-for-4 with a run scored and three RBIs in game two, while Pitney was 1-for-2 with a run scored and three RBIs. Reinhardt, meanwhile, went 2-for-2 with an RBI. Erin Hamm (Collegeville, PA) hurled a four-hit shutout. She struck out four Gaels and didn't issue a walk.
Tori Danner had two of Iona's four hits in the contest, including a double. Argyle (3-7) pitched a complete game in the circle and took the loss. She allowed eight runs (five earned) on nine hits and walked six in 4.2 innings.
This marks the first time that Manhattan recorded a shutout in both ends of a twinbill since notching a pair of 5-0 triumphs over Monmouth on April 12, 2015. It's also the Jaspers' first home doubleheader sweep of Iona since April 25, 2000.
“We're playing some good softball right now,” Pardalis said. “We're hitting 1-9 and getting some solid pitching. Hopefully we can carry this momentum into next week.”
On Saturday, the Jaspers conclude the regular season with a 12 p.m. doubleheader at Saint Peter's (0-39, 0-16 MAAC). Manhattan will be seeded no lower than fourth in the MAAC Tournament, and can potentially move as high as No. 2 (or even host as the No. 1 seed) with a sweep of the Peacocks.
