Manhattan University Athletics

Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

EMMITSBURG, MD – The Manhattan College softball team brought its bats to Maryland.  The Jaspers combined for 19 runs and 19 hits in a doubleheader sweep of Mount St. Mary's on Friday afternoon.  Manhattan (9-9) took the first game at 9-4 count before posting an eight-inning, 10-9 victory over the Mountaineers (5-16) in game two of the twinbill at Meadows Field.

Victoria Ross (Bloomfield, NJ) led the Manhattan effort in game one, crushing two home runs and collecting six RBIs.  It was 1-1 after one inning before Ross hit the first of her two long balls in the top of the second.  The Jaspers then put up a five-spot in the third to make it 7-1.  Alexa Dawid (Milford, CT) started the rally with a leadoff single, and she scored on Lauren Pitney's (Ansonia, CT) base knock.  After Kayla McDermott (Garnerville, NY) was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, Ross delivered a three-run double.

She came up again with one on and one out in the fifth, and she crushed one over the wall in left for her second long ball of the contest and a 9-1 Manhattan lead.  Mount St. Mary's responded with three in the bottom of the fifth, though.  Rachel Heinze and Lindsay Heinze ripped back-to-back RBI doubles, then Shea McFarland drove in another run with a single to left.  However, Danielle Gabriel (Island Heights, NJ) got Emilee Kirk on a popup to end the threat.  Gabriel would end up throwing 2.1 innings of scoreless relief, giving up just two hits and a walk while striking out one.

Ross became the first Jasper with a six-RBI game since Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, NY) drove in every run of a 6-4 victory at Quinnipiac on April 18, 2015.  She's also the second Manhattan player to have a two-home run game this season, joining Pitney, who did so against Columbia on March 12.  Pitney went 3-for-3 in this one, as every Manhattan starter either scored or drove in a run.  Matazinsky (5-3) earned the win in the circle after allowing four runs on nine hits with three strikeouts and a walk in 4.2 innings of work.

Four different Mountaineers had two-hit games, as Mount St. Mary's outhit Manhattan 11-10.  Lindsay Heinze scored a pair of runs, while Rachel Heinze knocked a pair of doubles.  Starting pitcher Sam Lichtner (3-5) took the loss after surrendering seven runs on six hits and three walks in three innings.  Katie Olson yielded two runs on four hits, struck out four and walked three over the final four innings.

Mount St. Mary's led 2-1 after an inning in game two before Shannon Puthe (Mullica Hill, NJ) put the Jaspers in front with a two-run triple in the top of the second.  However, the Mountaineers responded with two runs in the bottom of the second and two more in the third to make it 6-3.  After an RBI triple by Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, NY) pulled the Jaspers within 6-4 in the top of the fifth, Mount St. Mary's put up a three-spot to increase its cushion to 9-4.

In the top of the sixth, Manhattan loaded the bases after Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, CT) doubled leading off the inning, then Rachael Mumma (Mechanicsburg, PA) reached on an infield single and Ross was hit by a pitch.  A run came in when Puthe was safe on an error, and Dawid followed with a bases loaded walk to make it 9-6.  After an RBI single by Christine Gebhardt (Middletown, NJ), Pitney was hit by pitch, pulling the Jaspers within one, 9-8.  Mount St. Mary's pitcher Jordan Weaver prevented further damage, though, with a strikeout and a fly ball to right.

However, Reinhardt took Weaver deep leading off the seventh to tie the game at 9-9.  After Mount St. Mary's was retired in the bottom of the seventh, the contest moved into extra innings. 

With the international tiebreaker rule in use, each team began every half inning with the runner who made the last out of the previous inning placed on second base.  As a result, Manhattan's fastest runner, Puthe, was put on second to start the eighth.  Dawid promptly sacrificed her over to third, but Mount St. Mary's got the out at home when Gebhardt bunted back to the circle.  Pitney followed with a triple, though, allowing Gebhardt to score the go-ahead run.  Nicole Williams (Ansonia, CT) then struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth to close out the come-from-behind 10-9 victory.

Pitney and Puthe drove in three runs apiece, while Reinhardt had a triple, a homer and two RBIs in the contest.  Ross also scored twice in game two.  McDermott got the start in the circle and allowed two runs on three hits with one strikeout in her inning of work.  Stephanie Kristo (San Jose, CA) was charged with four runs (three earned) on four hits and a walk in two innings, and Gabriel was charged with three runs on three hits while striking out two and walking one in two innings.  Williams (1-2) earned her first collegiate win after holding the Mountaineers to a hit and a walk while tallying five strikeouts in three innings.

Rachel Heinze finished a triple shy of the cycle in the contest.  She knocked in two runs and scored twice.  Lindsay Heinze also drove in a pair, while Morgan Alisauckas went 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI.  In addition, Kaylee Stoner was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI for the Mountaineers.  Starting pitcher Marian Ruf lasted 5.1 innings.  She yielded eight runs (six earned) on seven hits, struck out five and walked four.  Weaver (1-7) took the loss after allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits in 2.2 innings.  She also registered four strikeouts.