On Saturday afternoon, the Quinnipiac softball team fell 4-1 in game one of a doubleheader to the Manhattan Jaspers.
The Jaspers got the scoring started early in the first inning after Lauren Rende worked a walk off of Bobcats starter, Sydney Horan. Lindsey Hoag came through for Manhattan with two outs as she knocked in Rende with a triple.
In the top of the third, Anissa Villalobos led off with a ball down the line that went off of third baseman Ella McGalliard’s glove. The Bobcats had a shot at getting Villalobos at second but Sofia Vega dropped the ball before making a tag.
This errant fielding display would come back to bite the Bobcats, as Rende would score Villalobos with a double.
The pitching was incredible from these teams in this one, as this score of 2-0 would hold going into the fifth inning.
The Bobcats were finally able to get onto the board in the fifth as Vega and McGalliard combined for back-to-back two-out doubles to cut the deficit to one, 2-1.
The Jaspers wasted no time getting that run back in the top of the sixth as Gabriella Mazzotta came up big for the Jaspers with two outs and the bases loaded by hitting an infield single to extend the lead back to two.
The biggest part of the game came in the bottom of the sixth inning after a Natalie Apatiga single and Brooke Hilliard walk, with both runners advancing to second and third with one out after a Hannah Davis ground out.
Facing the tying runners being in scoring position with only one out, Jaspers reliever Alexandra Hess went to work. First, she struck out Taylor Walton with an off-speed pitch before following up by getting Kennedy Demott to ground out to second base.
Clutch work by Hess to get out of a jam and send this game to the seventh inning.
The Jaspers added another insurance run in the seventh inning when Sophia Kiseloski hit a sacrifice fly to score Maddy Weir, making it 4-1.
The Bobcats were unable to come up with a response as they would be put down in order in the bottom of the seventh.
The loss marks back-to-back losses for the Bobcats, who will look to avoid the doubleheader sweep when they play game two at 2 p.m.
