By Amanda Guerriero
Ashley Lane led off the top of the third with a grounder to second, normally a routine out in softball. However, Lane’s grounder was just the beginning of an inning of brutal beatings on the Manhattan College Jaspers.
She hustled from the moment the ball ricocheted off her bat until the second she landed on first base, beating the throw.
After playing 17 road games far away from home in Hempstead, the Pride held its own Invitational
last Sunday at Hofstra Softball Stadium. Manhattan and Seton Hall University were invited to participate as the Pride took its home field for the first time this season.
The Pride ended the day by adding two more wins to its 11-8 record before conference play starts, beating the Jaspers, 14-8, and Pirates, 12-2 in only four and a half innings of play.
The first game of the Invitational was between Manhattan and Seton Hall, where the Pirates pulled out a win in the waning moments. Only 20 minutes after its heartbreaking loss, the Jaspers had to face the Pride’s Courtney Oliver. Freshman pitcher Melissa Hodge was supposed to make the start, but had a shoulder injury, and after struggling through her warmups was scratched from the lineup. The Pride took a lead of 2-0 after the second inning, but the real damage was yet to come.
After Lane reached first, Tara Ulrich cracked a ball over the centerfield wall that almost hit Hofstra Arena on the bounce. The rest of the inning was full of singles, beaten throws and an attempted suicide squeeze that resulted in two runs scored and no outs.
“We got every break today,” head coach Bill Edwards said. “Sometimes their pitchers made some great pitches against us, but we were able to fi ght them off.”
The inning ended after the Pride had put up seven runs on the board, hoping to end the game early with the help of the “mercy rule.”
However, the Jaspers didn’t go down easy, putting up three runs in the fourth after the first six batters got on base. Manhattan kept putting up a fight, making the game play out for the full seven innings, but it was too little too late.
The wind was whipping around the stadium all day, making for an unpleasant atmosphere against Seton Hall.
“We were very cold and the pitchers were uncomfortable,” Edwards said. “But obviously I think we played pretty well today, so it did not have much effect at all.”
The Pride scored 12 runs before the “mercy rule” was put into effect, causing the game to end short. Freshman pitcher Kayleigh Lotti got the start, her first in over a month and stayed in for the full short game.
“I had to warm up 10 times more than I usually do because I hadn’t pitched in so long,” Lotti said. “I had to take my time and make sure all my pitches were working.
“We certainly hit the ball very well today, a lot better than I expected we were going to hit it,” Edwards added.
The Invitational included a ceremony in between games in recognition of Banner Day, which notes last year’s team accomplishments–the 2005 Regional Finalist banner was revealed on the centerfi eld wall.
The Pride found the offense it had been looking for in 17 games down south and will need to continue this weekend when it takes on CAA foe UNC Wilmington.