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West Long Branch, NJ - After losing to top-seeded Monmouth 3-1 Thursday, Manhattan softball bounced back in their second game to defeat number three Siena 8-7 and advance through the elimination bracket in the 2018 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Championship.
Manhattan will face number six Marist at 1:30 p.m. Friday. The Jaspers swept the Red Foxes in the first meeting of the teams this past April. Marist beat Siena in its first game of the double-elimination tournament, and fell to Fairfield on Thursday.
Vs. Siena
Manhattan put together a nine-hit game against the Saints, exploding for an 8-0 lead after three innings.
Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, NY / Tamarac),
Kat Prevo (San Diego, CA / Our Lady of Peace), and
Adriana Gambino (Stamford, CT / Westhill) each went 2-4 on the game with two RBIs.
Siena pushed for a comeback, scoring six runs in the third and fourth innings. Down 8-6 going into the bottom of the seventh, the Saints got two runners on with one out on relief pitcher
Nicole Williams (Ansonia, CT / St. Joseph's). Hoping to halt the rally, the Jaspers brought in Matazinsky to finish the game.
The Saints were able to load the bases after Matazinsky tried for an out at home where there was no force. A batter later, she got the force at home, getting Siena to two outs with the bases still loaded. The Saints' Brooke Taylor then singled to third, driving in Siena's seventh run. But the magic ran out for the Saints as Matazinsky got the next batter to pop up, ending the game.
Williams got the win for Manhattan, improving to 10-10 on the season. Matazinsky recorded the save, her first of the season.
Vs. Monmouth
In game one, Manhattan's loss to the Hawks pushed the Jaspers into the elimination bracket and snapped Manhattan's 10-game winning streak.
Starting pitcher Williams went a complete game, striking out five of 25 batters faced. She let up just three hits, though two were homers by Monmouth's Amber Wozniack, her fifth and sixth of the season.
The Hawks scored first in the game, sneaking a run in from third on a dropped pop-up by Manhattan catcher
Daniela Chiorazzi (Stony Point, NY / North Rockland) in the bottom of the first. Wozniack then made it 2-0 in the fourth on her first homer of the game.
Responding in the sixth, Manhattan put together a run. After
Shannon Puthe (Mullica Hill, NJ / Saint Joseph's) reached on a fielder's choice, Prevo walked to put Puthe in scoring position.
Victoria Ross (Bloomfield, NJ / Bloomfield) then singled to left, one of just four hits for the Jaspers in the game. Puthe scored from second, cutting the Hawks' lead to one run.
Freshman
Victoria Alonso (Stony Point, NY / North Rockland) then walked, loading the bases with two outs. But Monmouth pitcher Amanda Riley was able to get
Christine Gebhardt (Middletown, NJ / Middletown North) to pop up, ending the inning and leaving three on for Manhattan.
Wozniack's second homer in the bottom of the sixth all but solidified a Monmouth win, as Riley retired the side in order in the top of the seventh.
Lauren Pitney (Ansonia, CT / St. Joseph's), Chiorazzi, Puthe, and Ross each had a hit for the Jaspers in game one, with Ross earning the team's only RBI for the game.
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