MANSFIELD, Conn. – Less than 24 hours after pitching briefly and ineffectively, sophomore Emily Komornik (Shelton) and freshman Samantha Valentine (Ridge, NY) didn't allow an earned run and only three hits in a combined  9 2/3 innings of work  to propel the Eastern Connecticut State University softball team to a 9-1, 7-4 Little East Conference doubleheader sweep of Keene State College Sunday afternoon at the Mansfield Outdoor Complex. The first game was stopped after six innings due to the eight-run rule.

Valentine (2-1) pitched a complete-game two-hitter with four strikeouts in the opener, and Eastern  (9-9, 3-1 Little East) collected ten hits off Keene State (7-7, 2-2 Little East) sophomore ace Maria Crisp, knocking her out of the game during a three-run fourth inning that ballooned its lead to 8-0.

At right: Shannon Martin makes solid contact in the second inning of Sunday's first game, driving a one-strike pitch over the right field fence to give the Warriors a quick 2-0 lead. (Photo by Liam Murphy)

In the second game, Komornik (2-2) gave up only one hit in 3 2/3 shutout relief innings of junior starter Erin Miller (Waterford). Komornik took over in the fourth after freshman leftfielder Aliza Guerrero belted a three-run home run that cut Eastern's lead to 7-4. Komornik got consecutive ground balls to subdue the threat,  retiring eight straight before Guerrero reached on an infield single leading off the seventh.

In a split with Plymouth State University Saturday in the team's conference openers, Komornik did not survive the first inning of a 7-3 second-game loss. Valentine gave up two hits and three runs in one inning later in that game.

Now 11-1 against Keene since 2010, Eastern has won eight of its last nine this year following a 1-8 start to reach the .500 mark for the first time this year.  Eastern shares second place in the conference with Western Connecticut, both teams a game behind leader Massachusetts Dartmouth. Keene is one of four conference teams with .500 records.

At right: Freshman Samantha Valentine handcuffed Keene State on two hits in the first-game victory. (Photo by Liam Murphy)

In the sweep, Eastern recorded 28 hits against three Keene pitchers to raise its season batting average to .322. Junior Sam Rossetti (Shelton) and first-year sophomore Samantha Rentz (Griswold) were each 6-for-8 on the day and combined for 15 total bases. Rossetti, who improved her team-leading batting average to .455, drove in five runs and scored three and Rentz scored five times and had an RBI. Senior centerfielder Mattie Brett (Waterford) had four hits – including an RBI double in the second game that hit the top of the fence that sparked a four-run fourth inning . She plated two runs and scored three.

Crisp (4-3), who entered the day with a 0.63 ERA and 63 strikeouts (against one walk) in 44 2/3 innings, gave up single runs in the first and second innings – Eastern junior rightfielder Shannon Martin (Wethersfield) homering to lead off the second – and three more in the third on five hits. She was lifted while the Warriors  were scoring three more times in the fourth.

Valentine allowed just two hits – a leadoff double by Elissa Coburn in the third and a leadoff infield single to Heather Pelletier leading off the fourth. An infield error in the fourth accounted for Keene's only run of the game.

Eastern scored three times in the first inning of the nightcap off freshman  starter Ashlee McGan and added four more in the fourth (picking up five hits in each of those innings) before Guerrero poked her team's first home run of the season over the right field fence in the fourth.  Rossetti and senior second baseman Jen Tamindzija (Malden, MA) drove in runs for Eastern in the first. Freshman pinch hitter Samantha Bardos (Norwalk), Rrentz and Brett all had RBI doubles in the fourth and Rossetti's flare into left field plated the final run.

Guerrero had two of Keene's six hits on the day but was the only player with more than one. She was credited with three of the team's four RBI.

Eastern visits Babson College Tuesday in a 3 p.m. non-conference doubleheader.