BUFFALO, N.Y. - The No. 3 seed Niagara Purple Eagles defeated the fourth-seeded Manhattan Jaspers, 2-1, in eight innings in an elimination game at the 2010 MAAC Softball Championship on Friday afternoon at Demske Sports Complex. The Purple Eagles will play the No. 1 seed Canisius Golden Griffins in another elimination game at 3:30 p.m. on Friday.

Niagara (22-21) scored the game-winning run on a walkoff walk in the eighth inning. With the bases loaded and two outs, freshman Becky Zill fell behind in the count 0-2, but battled back to draw four balls to score Kristin Kill from third to win the game.

Today’s game had a similar script to yesterday’s game against Iona for the Purple Eagles.  Niagara picked up its first hit of the game when senior Jenna Baker led off the third inning with a solo homer to left field to take a 1-0 lead.

Manhattan (25-23-1) started the fifth inning with back-to-back singles off of starting pitcher Cassie Stone, who was soon replaced by Julie DiMatteo. Manhattan’s Kristina Walraven’s sacrifice fly tied the game at 1-1.

Niagara came close to ending the game in the seventh inning with two outs and the winning run on third, but senior Laynie Stillman grounded out to the pitcher. DiMatteo successfully retired the Jaspers in order in the eighth inning to setup the Purple Eagles dramatic win.