NEW YORK – The Columbia softball team drew a season-high 12 base on balls in its 12-4 win over Manhattan on Wednesday evening at the Columbia Softball Stadium.
The Lions (15-15) got a strong pitching performance from first-year utility player
Caylene Nguyen (3-0), who went the distance in her first collegiate start. Nguyen also went 1-for-2 at the plate with two RBIs and a run scored.
Offensively, the Lions' patience at the plate saw them draw 12 walks, most since Columbia walked 10 times in a win over Cornell on April 13, 2019. Every Columbia batter reached base, including
Sarah Mikami, who extends her reached base safely streak to 16 games.
Olivia Madkins drove in three, Nguyen, Mikami, and
Maddie Souza all drove in a pair.
Manhattan (10-22) saw its five-game winning streak snapped in the loss. The Jaspers scored the opening run in the top of the first inning, but it would not be enough as their pitching staff struggled to throw strikes.
A leadoff walk, a wild pitch, and an RBI double by Lindsey Hoag gave Manhattan the lead after one. From the second inning on, Nguyen was efficient, tossing five complete, scattering eight hits and four runs for her third win of the season. She also struck out a career-high five batters on the afternoon.
The loss went to Jaspers' starter Sophia Kiseloski (3-6), who tossed 3.0 complete, allowing six hits and five runs, with three walks and a strikeout.
The game got away from Manhattan in the third inning when relief pitcher Victoria Diaz entered the contest. With the Lions already leading 5-1, Diaz surrendered six walks in the third, allowing three runs to score. In the fourth, she issued three more walks to load the bases for Madkins, who doubled off the wall in left-center to make it a 10-1 ball game.
Manhattan scored a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth, but it would not be enough as the Lions closed the door with another outfield assist, their third in as many games. Tonight, it was Souza who threw out a runner at home for the final out.
UP NEXT
Columbia heads back on the road this weekend for a three-game series at Princeton. Game one is on Friday afternoon at 3:30 p.m.
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