Box Score HACKENSACK, N.J. – The Fairleigh Dickinson softball team scored seven runs in the top of the seventh inning to come from behind and grab an 8-4 victory at Manhattan on Friday afternoon. With the win, the Knights gain their first victory of the season and move to 1-3 on the young season, while the Jaspers fall to 2-3 overall.
Down three heading into the final frame, FDU batted around and at one point got five straight hits including the go-ahead run from
Madison Lerma (Escondido, Calif./Escondido)'s grand slam.
Scoreless heading into the bottom of the second,
Megan Reiner (Los Angeles, Calif./John Marshall), in her second start, walked two straight hitters and allowed a two-run double to Emily Cutler to break the early deadlock.
The Knights were set down in order by Amy Bright in the top of the third and remained hitless on the afternoon.
Manhattan got another run across when Jenn Vazquez scored on an elaborate, eventual double play.
FDU got on the board in the fourth when Bryanna Dorado singled
Alex Portesi (Chino, Calif./Don Antonio Lugo) home.
Reiner allowed her sixth home run of the season to Vazquez, a solo effort, to make the score 4-1 in the bottom of the fifth.
The Knights threatened in the sixth and eventually got the bases loaded after Lerma walked but
Courtney Slye (Mission Viejo, Calif./Capistrano Valley High School) struck out looking to end the inning.
FDU's rally in the seventh began with an Emma DeLuca single to center. Reiner came in to pinch run and
Cheryl Lopez (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) promptly doubled to left.
After Bellini grounded out,
Madelaine Wilen (Bakerfield, Calif./Ridgeview High School) started off a stretch of five straight hits with a single that scored Reiner. Portesi and
Angelique Nieves (Union City, N.J./High Tech High School) each notched a RBI single to tie the game up at 4-4.
Briana Matazinsky relieved Bright and allowed Dorado to single into shallow left to load the bases. Lerma stepped up to the plate without a hit on the day and deposited a pitch over the left field fence for the go-ahead grand slam, the first of her career.
Reiner remained in the game and, after allowing a leadoff walk, struck out the side to earn her first win of the season.
The senior's final eight outs of the contest were all strikeouts. After 19 complete games last year, Reiner has two in two starts this campaign. She earned the win while allowing just four hits in seven innings but also 10 walks to match her 10 strikeouts.
The Knights finished with 11 hits, including four hitters with two apiece. Through four games, both Wilen and Lerma are batting over .500.
Bright got saddled with the loss for the Jaspers after allowing five earned runs in 6.1 innings plus two walks and seven punch outs.
FDU returns to action with a doubleheader on Tuesday, March 17, against Iona and Loyola Marymount at the latter's field. Two days later, the Knights begin the LMU/Muscle Milk Softball Invitational.
