On Sunday afternoon, the Manhattan Jaspers beat the Quinnipiac Bobcats by a score of 7-1, taking two games out of the three-game weekend series.
The Jaspers’ offense wasted no time getting on the board as the first six batters in the lineup got on base.
Following a Gabriella Mazzota leadoff double and a Lauren Rende walk, Maddy Weir came through with an RBI single and advanced to second on a Bobcats error.
Lindsey Hoag followed this up with an RBI single of her own, making it 2-0.
The big hit of the inning came off the bat of Sophia Koseloski who roped a two-run double into left field to extend the lead to 4-0 in the first.
A walk to Kaitlyn Flood ended Bobcats starter Sydney Horan’s day early as she left without recording an out.
“I just think they did a good job. I think they just came out and they were swinging and they just had a lot of energy,” said head coach Hillary Smith. “I just think they had a great plan coming out and they were just ready to hit and they capitalized on it.”
Mollie Charest picked up where she left off from yesterday as she put zeroes up until the fifth inning, with new Bobcats pitcher, Jaclyn Gonzalez matching her.
In the top of the fifth, the Jaspers were able to extend their lead to 5-0 off of a Flood RBI single.
The Bobcats finally got on the board in the bottom half of the inning when Mary Fogg was able to get an RBI off of an infield single. The rally was put to an end however when Natalia Apatiga got a hit to right but Ella McGalliard was thrown out at the plate by Manhattans right fielder Anissa Villalobos.
The Jaspers were able to extend the lead in the sixth to 7-1 as with two runners on, Weir came up with her second hit of the day as she hit a two RBi single. Weir picked up her second and third RBIs of the day.
A Julia Woeste double in the seventh was all the Bobcats offense could muster over the last two innings, as Cherest picked up the complete game win surrendering just six hits.
In what was considered a do-or-die game for the Bobcats, needing a win to stay in playoff contention, they were unable to do so, effectively ending their postseason hopes.
This leads to the last week of the season and the careers of multiple seniors on the squad.
“You know, it’s gonna be tough to make it right now and we know that but we just talked about really working hard this weekend,” Smith continued. “We just talked about right now that [the seniors] deserve it and we owe it to them to give them one hell of a week.”
The Bobcats will look to finish the season strong when they take on Stonehill in a doubleheader in Hamden on Thursday with game one starting at 2 p.m
