Two Vazquez Homers Lift Jaspers to Split With St. John?s

Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

RIVERDALE, N.Y. – Jenn Vazquez (Fairfield, Conn.) crushed a pair of home runs, a two-run blast in the third and a solo shot in the sixth, to lift the Manhattan College softball team (25-14) to a 3-2 win in the second game of a doubleheader with St. John's (24-15) at Gaelic Park on Tuesday afternoon.  The Red Storm took the first game by a 1-0 count.

St. John's took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first and threatened for more in the second, loading the bases with one out.  However, Danielle Gabriel (Island Heights, N.J.) got Monique Landini on a popup and Krystal Puga on a fly ball to right to escape the inning unscathed.

Elena Bowman (San Mateo, Calif.) drew a one-out walk in the bottom of the third, setting up Vazquez's game-tying two-run shot to left.

After the Red Storm left the bases loaded in the fifth, Ellen Czuba led off the sixth for St. John's and singled to center.  Hannah Anderson's sacrifice bunt moved Czuba to second and Landini followed with a single.  Czuba tried to score on the play, but was out at home on a great throw by Emily Cutler (Bloomingdale, N.J.).  The Jaspers then took the lead in the bottom half of the inning on Vazquez's second long ball of the game, a blast to deep center field. 

Briana Matazinsky (Valley Falls, N.Y.), who entered in relief in the fifth, retired the Red Storm in order in the top of the seventh, as Manhattan secured a split with the 3-2 victory.

As a team, Manhattan collected just four hits in the contest.  In addition to Vazquez's two homers, Bowman singled in the first and Stephanie Reinhardt (Albany, N.Y.) had a base hit in the sixth.  Gabriel went four innings, allowing two runs on six hits and four walks.  Matazinsky (9-4) earned the win after yielding just two hits and a walk while also picking up a strikeout in three innings of relief.

Anderson, Landini and Erin Burner all recorded two hits in game two, as St. John's outhit Manhattan 8-4.  Burner also had an RBI, while Landini and Krystal Puga each scored a run.  Grace Kramer (0-3) took the loss.  She surrendered three runs on four hits, struck out 11 and walked four in a six-inning complete game.

In the opener, neither side was able to get much going offensively.  After leaving the bases loaded in the third, St. John's scored the only run of the game in the top of the fourth.  Brittany Garcia and Yvonne Rericha started the inning with back-to-back singles before Savannah Warren hit a ground ball to Mickayla Romero (Las Vegas, Nev.), who turned it into a double play.  However, the next batter, Lexi Robles, singled to left, giving the Red Storm a 1-0 lead.

Manhattan put runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the fourth, but Sydney Weedon (North Tustin, Calif.) grounded into a double play to end the threat.  St. John's hurler Francesca Carrullo worked around two hits in the sixth, then tossed a perfect seventh to complete a five-hit shutout.

Vazquez went 3-for-3 in game one, while Bowman and Amanda Paxson (Cedar Grove, N.J.) each singled for Manhattan's only other two hits.  Amy Bright (Manlius, N.Y.) (14-7) took the loss after allowing one run on five hits while striking out two and walking two in four innings.  Erin Hamm (Collegeville, Pa.) pitched the final three innings, giving up two hits and notching three strikeouts.

For the Red Storm, Garcia was 2-for-3, while Rehrica went 1-for-3 with a run scored and Robles finished 1-for-3 with an RBI.  Carrullo (10-4) recorded three strikeouts and three walks.