KEENE, N.H.  4/7/12 –Ranked fourth nationally and second in New England, the Eastern Conn. State University softball team swept Keene State College 9-2 and 10-3 in a Little East Conference doubleheader played at Owl Athletic Conference on Saturday.

            The Owls (10-4, 0-2 LEC), who are ranked fourth in New England, were playing their first LEC games of the season.  The Warriors (17-1, 4-0 LEC) extended their winning streak to 16 games.

            "A lot of their hits were out of the reach of our players and there's nothing you can do to defend that," said KSC Coach Charlie Beach.  "What Eastern did very well is bunt, steal, get hits and move those runners around very well.  They're a good team and the sign of a good team is taking advantage of the mistakes that you make. They exploit you for a lot of runs and that's exactly what they did."

            Senior All-American Molly Rathbun (Hebron, Conn.) tossed a complete game four-hitter for Eastern in the opener.  She gave up two runs while fanning 10 and not issuing a walk to improve her record to 12-1.

            Senior Sara Stocklinski (Newton, N.J.), 4-1, suffered her first loss of the season.  She gave up eight runs on 10 hits while striking out one walking two batters.

            Leading 2-0, the Warriors scored four runs in the top of the fifth to go up 6-0.  Rathbun had an RBI single and two more runs came in on an Owl error.

            KSC got its only runs in the bottom of the inning on a two-run home run by senior Haley Chandler (Wakefield, Mass.).

            Junior Arielle Cooper (Mystic, Conn.) belted home runs in sixth and seventh innings for the Warriors, giving her six on the season.

            The Warriors jumped out to a 4-0 in the second game. ECSU scored three runs in the top of the third on two hits and two Owl errors.  After KSC got one run back in the bottom of the inning, Eastern answered with three more runs in the top of the fourth on an error, pass ball and sacrifice fly. The Owls committed five errors in the game.

            In the bottom of the fourth, Chandler hit her second home run of the day, a two run shot to center, making it 7-3.  It was Chandler's third home run of the season.

            Senior Christine Yeomans (Durham, Conn.) hit a two-run home run for the Warriors in the sixth.

            Senior Katie Bradford (Lebanon, N.H.) went 3-4 for the Owls in the night cap. 

            Cooper had three more hits for ECSU in the second game. She finished the day with six hits, four runs scored and a couple of RBIs.  Rathbun was 5-7 in the doubleheader with five RBIs. 

            Senior Emily Albin (Bethel, Conn.) started for the Owls and took the loss (2-2). She gave up nine runs on 12 hits with a couple of strikeouts and a walk. 

            Junior pitcher Kassondra Silva (Hamden, Conn.) remained undefeated, improving her record to 5-0. She went the first four innings, allowing three runs on six hits with a strikeout and a walk.

            Keene State is at Westfield State on Thursday.