VIRGINIA BEACH – Kayla Malkos and Lindsey Inza stroked run-scoring singles as No. 9 nationally-ranked Virginia Wesleyan College broke a fourth-inning tie and went on to a 4-2 victory over the Eastern Connecticut State University fastpitch softball team Sunday afternoon at Marlins Field.

                                                                                                           At right: Alyssa Hancock

Eastern (0-4) had tied the game with two unearned runs in the third inning on a hit batsman, two errors and singles by senior centerfielder Mattie Brett (Waterford) and sophomore shortstop Alyssa Hancock (Waterford).

Trailing by two runs, Eastern put five runners aboard over the final three innings but could not push any of them across. Hancock had a two-out single in the fifth inning but was left at second base, and junior rightfielder Shannon Martin (Wethersfield) a two-out single in the sixth but was stranded at first.

Eastern chased unbeaten winning pitcher Mackenzie Creech in the seventh when senior second baseman Jen Tamindzija (Malden, MA) opened with a single. Senior leftfielder Stephanie Johnson (Plantsville) was walked by relief pitcher Mary Shipp, but freshman pinch runner Rebecca DeFeo (Exeter, RI) was thrown trying to score from second by centerfielder Tori Higginbotham on Brett's single for the first out. Shipp got strikeouts to leave the tying runs in scoring position.

Eastern junior righty Erin Miller (Waterford) lost her second game in as many decisions. She went the six-inning distance, allowing nine hits and three walks and fanning one.

Virginia Wesleyan (9-0)  stole eight bases in the game, with the four runners who scored combining on six of them. Malkos had three hits, scored two runs, drove in one and stole three bases for the Marlins, who lost in the finals of the South Regional last year and finished with a 41-8 overall record.

Batting 1-2 in the order, Brett and Hancock evenly combined on four of Eastern's six hits. Creech (5-0) fanned eight without a walk.

In their first game of the day, Eastern dropped an 8-6 decision to SUNY Oneonta, one day after being mercied, 10-2, by the Red Dragons in their season-opener.

Eastern plays eight games in five days at the Dot Richardson Spring Games March 16-20 in Clermont, FL.