Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

KEENE, N.H. – Third-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University hit four home runs and piled up 21 runs and 27 hits overall while dealing the Keene State College softball team a pair of defeats, 9-1 (five innings) and 12-4, in a Little East Conference doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at Owl Athletic Complex.
 
Records

• Keene State:  5-21, 4-10 LEC
• No. 3 Eastern Connecticut:  24-2, 12-2 LEC

How It Happened – Game One
The Owls came into the day looking for an upset that would significantly improve their playoff chances heading into the final weekend of the regular season, but Eastern Connecticut's bats washed away that notion by scoring runs in nine of 12 offensive innings on the day, never trailing in either game.  The Warriors went ahead 3-0 before KSC got an out in the opener, led 4-0 after one, 7-0 after two, and cruised to a 9-1, run-rule shortened victory as Carley Stoker put ECSU on her back, improving to 12-0 in the circle after holding the Owls to just one run and two hits with five strikeouts. At the plate, she clobbered a double, homer, and drove in five of the nine runs while going 3-for-3.
 
Alexis Tyrrell put immediate pressure on Keene State and starter Alexis Blanchette, doubling to lead off the game before stealing third.  Alyssa Vilchez followed with a walk before the hard-hitting middle of the order in Brooke Matyasovsky and Stoker – who now combine for 21 home runs on the season – each hit doubles to put KSC in a quick 3-0 hole.  Taylor Darby's run-scoring single three batters later tacked on a fourth run in the first inning.
 
After sending KSC down 1-2-3 with a pair of strikeouts, Stoker was at it again in the very next half inning, as she pulled a no-doubt, three-run shot to left with two outs for a 7-0 lead, and that would be more than enough support for her arm, which has whiffed 87 in 83.1 innings this year.  Keene State did not get a baserunner until the third inning with two outs when Emma Pede was hit by a pitch and did not mount any big offensive threat until the fifth.  Facing a big climb, the Blanchette sisters each reached to start the inning, with Megan singling to left to prevent KSC from getting no-hit.  Grace Hallett followed with a rope of a single to center, spoiling the shutout to make it a 9-1 game, and the Owls still had two on with nobody out down eight.  A sacrifice bunt from Faith Barbieri put two runners in scoring position, but a shallow fly ball to right and a ground ball – fittingly – right back to Stoker ended the game as the uprising fizzled with KSC plating just one.
 
Alexis Blanchette (3-7) started in the circle for the Owls and took the loss, tossing the first two innings.  Megan Blanchette and Hallett had KSC's hits, with Hallett driving in the lone run.
 
In addition to Stoker's performance, Tyrrell finished 3-for-4 with an RBI, two runs scored, and two steals.  Matyasovsky was 2-for-3 and drove in a run.  Nine of Eastern's 13 hits came from the top four hitters in the starting lineup, including all four extra-base hits.
 
How It Happened – Game Two
Eastern Connecticut again jumped out to a lead right away, using the long ball in their favor with three in the game, but KSC hung around until a five-run fourth inning where the Warriors sent 10 batters to the plate broke the game open, eventually leading to a 12-4 final.  Once again, it was the top of ECSU's order doing a significant amount of damage, with the one through four spots in the order combining to go 8-for-18 with three home runs and nine RBI.  Keene State piled up 10 hits of their own, including a 3-for-4 showing with two RBI for Kate Fisher and a perfect 3-for-3 effort with an RBI for Meghan Moran (raising her average to .312), but the Owls left 10 runners on base and did not have anything more than a single.
 
KSC starter Olivia Albert was one out away from putting up a zero in the opening half inning, but Stoker had other ideas, connecting on a two-run blast to center that put the Warriors up 2-0.  Unlike the opener, the Owls did have a forceful response with the bats this time around, getting to Matyasovsky for a pair of runs on three hits in their first trip to the plate.  Sara Cote led off with a walk before Kylie Frank and Moran followed with singles, the latter of which scored a run to put Keene State on the board.  The next two were retired, but the Owls then had some key two-out hitting of their own, as Fisher tied the game 2-2 with a hard-hit grounder into left.
 
The tie lasted until the third inning when Matyasovsky helped her own cause and hit a two-run homer of her own, scoring Tyrrell who had reached on an error to start the inning, for a 4-2 edge, but Albert fanned the next two and kept the score there.   KSC again answered in their trip to the plate, making it a one-run game (4-3) on another two-out knock through the left side by Fisher.  However, the wheels came off for the Owls in the fourth, as despite their extra-base prowess on the day, Eastern scored five runs on six singles – three of which did not leave the infield (one on a bunt) – to expand their lead to 9-3.
 
Facing Vilchez in the circle in the fifth, Keene State's last chance to get back into the game probably came in that inning. They loaded the bases with nobody out down by six and then scored when Alexis Blanchette took ball four, making it 9-4 with the bases still full and still nobody out, but they got nothing else, as a strikeout, caught stealing, and ground ball ended the frame.  The one run KSC scored in that inning was answered two batters into the sixth with another big blast by, who else, Stoker, and ECSU added two more in the seventh to make it 12-4.  Matyasovsky pitched the opening three innings and then reentered for the final two, running into bases loaded trouble in the seventh, but got the win to improve to 12-2.  She went five innings and allowed three runs on eight hits while striking out four.
 
Albert (2-11) fanned five in 5.1 innings, but allowed nine earned runs and took the loss.
 
Around the Horn

• Moran, now the team leader in batting average, registered her seventh multi-hit game (six coming since April 19).  She has four three-hit games since April 22.
• The series has not been friendly to the Owls recently, as after winning all three matchups in 2016, they have lost the last 11 to go from above .500 to 26-36 all-time against the Warriors.

Up Next

• Keene State closes their regular season schedule with a home doubleheader against the University of Massachusetts-Boston on Friday, May 7 at 12:00 p.m.  The six through nine spots in the league standings are separated by just two games.  Only No. 6 will qualify for the LEC tournament.
• Eastern hosts the same Beacons on Saturday (1:00 p.m.) in their finale as they hope to overtake the University of Southern Maine (trailing by one game) for the regular season title.