Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 MANSFIELD, Conn. – Carley Stoker and Brooke Matyasovsky each pitched complete game shutouts, with Stoker not allowing any hits in five innings in the opener, as the unbeaten and seventh-ranked Warriors downed the Keene State College softball team by scores of 9-0 (5 innings) and 5-0 in a pair of non-conference games Tuesday afternoon at Clyde Washburne Field. The teams meet in Keene for their two league games in two weeks.
Records
- Keene State: 1-7
- Eastern Connecticut: 18-0
How It Happened – Game One
The Owls could not find any offense in the opener and could not stay close after the Warriors put up three runs in the second and five more in the fourth, eventually posting a 9-0, five-inning win. The top three in ECSU's order –
Cassie Woods, Alexis Tyrrell, and Julia SanGiovanni – combined to go 6-for-7 with three runs scored and three driven in, while the Warriors also got a spark from No. 7 hitter Sarah Remillard, who went 2-for-3 with a double, home run, and three RBI. Eastern has won their first 18 games of the season, 14 coming at Washburne Field, and 20 in a row overall since falling in the Division III Women's College World Series semifinals in extra innings against Emory University in 2019. They won their only two games last year before the rest of the schedule was wiped out.
ECSU filled the bases on just one hit in their first trip to the plate, but KSC starter
Alexis Blanchette got out of the jam, inducing a pop out from Matyasovsky and a fielder's choice grounder by Megan Hodgdon. However, a pair of free passes in the second eventually led to runs following RBI singles from Woods and Tyrrell. A wild pitch scored a third run as KSC found themselves down 3-0. Eastern added a run on Remillard's homer in the next inning and then piled on with five more on five hits in the fourth as the deficit became insurmountable, especially with how Stoker (9-0) was pitching, yielding just one runner into scoring position in the five innings. Keene State's only baserunners came in the form of two
Megan Blanchette walks. Stoker walked two and fanned six in five innings.
Alexis Blanchette (0-2) went three-plus innings for Keene State and took the loss.
How It Happened – Game Two
Keene State starter
Olivia Albert built off a solid outing last time out against Castleton University with another against a surging and highly-ranked Warriors team, allowing just two earned runs and five hits – none for extra bases – in six innings, but the Owls forced her to get numerous extra outs due to five errors and eventually fell 5-0 despite keeping Eastern to their second fewest number of hits in a game this season. KSC also did not have any better luck offensively against an ECSU hurler, this time Matyasovsky (9-0), who allowed four hits and walked three, but was otherwise unscathed.
The Warriors scored in the opening three frames to quickly put the Owls in a 4-0 hole, including an RBI single from Matyasovsky in the first, who helped her own cause in the circle by driving in the first run. ECSU made it 3-0 in the second inning thanks to a pair of miscues from the Owls, including one on a ball to center that appeared would end the inning, but instead plated two more runs as Tyrrell reached. Carley Gessaro's sacrifice bunt in the third scored another as the Warriors used small ball to make it 4-0.
That proved to be enough for Matyasovsky, but KSC was not without chances in the nightcap. In a 1-0 game in the second,
Alexis Blanchette walked before
Kate Fisher reached on an error by second baseman Alyssa Vilchez, but the next two struck out as the Owls could not score. Moran's leadoff double in the fourth was stranded after the next three skied to the outfield, and a pair of singles in the sixth from Moran, her second hit, and Albert, with two outs were left on first and second.
Grace Hallett singled to third with one down in the seventh, but the next two were sent down as KSC could not avoid a second consecutive shutout and could not overcome three unearned runs in the contest.
Moran finished 2-for-3 for the Owls. ECSU had five different players record a single.
Around the Horn
- Albert has allowed only three earned runs and 10 hits in her last 13 innings while striking out 11, returning to the form from her shortened season that saw her post a 2.76 ERA in 12.2 innings of work.
- Since beating the Warriors three times in 2016, KSC has lost the last nine in a row in the series, four by one run and one by two runs with two being decided in extra innings. They are now 26-34 since 1998 against ECSU.
Up Next
- The schedule does not lighten up from here, as it is a University of Southern Maine (16-1-, 6-0 LEC) weekend for the Owls. KSC will first travel to Gorham for two conference games beginning at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday before the Huskies visit Keene on Sunday (1:00 p.m.) for rescheduled contests that do not count toward the league standings.
- Eastern Connecticut visits in-state rival Western Connecticut State University (0-6, 0-4 LEC) next Tuesday for two Little East games that start at 4:00 p.m.
