RIVERDALE, N.Y. – The Niagara University softball team (24-20, 6-8) split a doubleheader with Manhattan College (26-22, 6-8) Saturday afternoon, winning 8-5 in eight innings in the opener and dropping a 10-5 nightcap.
The Purple Eagles close their regular season with an 11 a.m. doubleheader at Saint Peter’s Sunday.
Niagara 8, Manhattan 5 (8 innings)
Four runs on five hits in the top of the eighth inning helped Niagara win the opener at Manhattan.
Junior Nicole Sum (Burnaby, B.C.) opened the inning with a single to left. She then moved to third on a Jasper error, took third on sophomore Tory Healy’s (Las Vegas, Nev.) single to through the left side and scored on senior Shannon Mongalise’s (Bethel Park, Pa.) single. Niagara then scored freshman Jennifer Yee (North Delta, B.C.) on a squeeze play. Sophomore Jamie Constantz (Endicott, N.Y.) then hit a two-run double to left centerfield.
Niagara took a 3-0 lead in the first inning when Sum doubled to right center, Yee singled and Mongalise hit a two-run double down the right field line. Healy, who walked to get on, scored on a Manhattan error.
The Jaspers took a 4-3 lead in the third when they scored on three hits and an error. Devon Gustafson singled up the middle to plate two of the runs.
The Purple Eagles tied the game when Yee hit her 11th home run of the season down the right field line.
Manhattan scored once in the eighth when Kiera Fox singled in Kerry Cook.
Sum, Yee, Mongalise, and junior Kelly Flaherty (Hastings, N.Y.) each had two hits with Sum, Mongalise, Constantz and Flaherty collecting doubles.
Sophomore Tiffany McCrory (Albuquerque, N.M.) got the win giving up 12 hits while striking out five in eight innings of work.
Manhattan 10, Niagara 5
Manhattan had 14 hits off two Niagara pitchers to earn a split in the doubleheader.
Niagara scored twice in the first when Sum doubled, Yee singled and stole second, and Mongalise hit a two-run single up the middle.
The Jaspers answered, scoring four runs when Danielle Just hit a grand slam home run. In the second, Manhattan scored on a Niagara error to take a 5-2 lead into the third.
Sum hit her second home run of the season to cut the lead to 5-3.
Manhattan scored again in the fourth when Cook tripled and then scored on a single by Liz Strein.
Healy hit her ninth home run of the season in the top of the sixth, but the Jaspers answered with three runs on four hits in the bottom of the inning.
Freshman Heidi Conlon (Lewiston, N.Y./Niagara Catholic) scored the Purple Eagles’ final run on a ground out.
Sum and Healy were both 2-for-4, and Mongalise collected two RBI. McCrory took the loss, throwing two and a third innings and giving up five hits, six runs and four earned runs. Freshman Katie Gleiser (Cheektowaga, N.Y./Maryvale) went three and two-thirds innings, giving up nine hits, four runs and four earned runs.
