Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
RIVERDALE, NY – The Manhattan College softball team continued its eight-game homestand with a non-conference doubleheader against Lafayette at Gaelic Park on Wednesday. Manhattan (24-12) recorded its 10th shutout of the season with a 4-0 victory in the first game before knocking off the Leopards (6-21) by a 6-4 count in game two.
In game one, the Jaspers got on the board immediately. Shannon Puthe (Mullica Hill, NJ) led off the bottom of the first with a single and moved to third on a base hit by Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, CT) before scoring on Lauren Pitney's (Ansonia, CT) sacrifice fly. Puthe and Vazquez accounted for another run when they both doubled in the fifth.
Manhattan then picked up two more in the bottom of the sixth. After Kat Prevo (San Diego, CA) led off the inning with a homer to left, Puthe ripped a two-out double down the right field line. Shen then scored her third run of the game on Alexa Dawid's (Milford, CT) RBI single to center.
Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, NY), meanwhile, was cruising in the circle. The only hit she allowed was a two-out single by Samantha Sweigart in the first. Lafayette had just one other base runner on the contest, which came on a leadoff walk in the fifth. Matazinsky (13-3) got 17 of the 21 outs on the ground, as she hurled her fourth complete game shutout of the season.
Puthe finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and three runs scored, and Vazquez went 2-for-4 with an RBI double. Dawid was 1-for-3 with an RBI, while Pitney recorded an RBI. Prevo's home run was her second of the season.
Stacy Gordon (2-8) started in the circle for Lafayette and took the loss. She surrendered two runs on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts in 4.1 innings. Kristyn Marinelli tossed 1.2 innings of relief, allowing two runs on five hits while walking one and striking out one.
A pair of Lafayette errors paved the way to a four-run Manhattan first in game two. Puthe, who reached on catcher's interference, scored on a Vazquez sacrifice fly, and Dawid, who was safe when her sacrifice bunt was misplayed at third, came around from second on Matazinsky's single back to the pitcher. Christine Gebhardt (Middletown, NJ) and Prevo followed with RBI hits to right, giving the Jaspers a 4-0 lead.
That advantage increased to 5-0 after Dawid and Vazquez ripped back-to-back singles in the bottom of the second. Vazquez then picked up her third RBI in as many at bats in the fourth, when she ripped a double to left that knocked in Puthe, who scored for the fifth time in the twinbill.
Nicole Williams (Ansonia, CT) held Lafayette without a hit until yielding back-to-back one-out singles in the fifth. The Leopards then loaded the bases in the sixth before Stephanie Kristo (San Jose, CA) got a called third strike to end the inning.
Lafayette, however, broke through for four runs in the top of the seventh. After three straight singles led to the Leopards' first run, Marinelli ripped a two-run single to center that cut Manhattan's lead to 6-3. Lafayette loaded the bases on a walk and a hit by pitch, bringing the go-ahead run to the plate and Williams back into the circle. She struck out the first batter she faced before walking in a run to make it 6-4. Williams shut the door, though, recording another strikeout to end the Lafayette rally and give Manhattan the win.
Williams (6-5) finished with seven strikeouts in her 5.2 innings of work. She surrendered just two hits and three walks without allowing a run. Kristo yielded three runs on five hits while also registering a walk and a strikeout in 1.1 innings. Kayla McDermott (Garnerville, NY) was charged with one run, one hit and one walk.
At the plate, Vazquez was 3-for-3 with three RBIs. Dawid finished 1-for-3 with two runs scored, while Puthe crossed the plate twice. Matazinsky, Gebhardt and Prevo all went 1-for-3 with an RBI, and Matazinsky also scored a run.
Eight different Leopards singled in the game, with Sweigart going 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. Alexis Randall (0-3) tossed a complete game in the circle. She gave up six runs, only two of which were earned, on eight hits and walked two.
On Saturday, the first-place Jaspers (8-2 MAAC) resume their Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) schedule with a 12 p.m. doubleheader against second-place Siena (12-23, 7-3 MAAC) at Gaelic Park. Between games of the twinbill, Manhattan will hold its Senior Day ceremony honoring Vazquez, Danielle Gabriel (Island Heights, NJ) and Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, NY).
