WINTER HAVEN -- Senior first baseman Sam Rossetti (Shelton) had four hits and the Eastern Connecticut State University softball team scored five times in the bottom of the fifth in an 8-6 victory over Skidmore College and the Warriors went on to two wins Monday at DiamondPlex.
In the first game, sophomore Samantha Valentine (Ridge, NY) faced only one batter over the minimum with a complete-game, six-inning 8-0 win over St. Norbert College.
Against Skidmore (1-2), Eastern (4-0) wiped out a three-run deficit with five runs in the fifth in support of junior relief pitcher Emily Komornik (Shelton). Komornik didn't allow an earned run over five innings in her first appearance of the year in place of senior Erin Miller (Waterford) to gain her first win in her first decision. Komornik allowed only three hits while fanning two and walking three.
Rossetti was 4-for-4 with a double against Skidmore, with sophomore Summer Cipriani (North Stonington) adding two hits and two RBI. Senior Shannon Martin (Wethersfield) had a double, scored two runs and drove in one.
Against St. Norbert (1-1), Valentine (2-0) pitched a two-hitter without a strikeout or walk. Valentine retired ten straight until Amy McBride's two-out double in the fifth (she was thrown out at third to end the inning). Until the fifth, St. Norbert's only hit was a leadoff single in the second by Leigh Grall.
Leading 2-0, Eastern scored four times in the fourth on five hits. Junior shortstop Alyssa Hancock (Waterford), junior third baseman Samantha Rentz (Griswold) and Rossetti all drove in runs, Hancock and Rossetti's coming on doubles. No. 9 hitter Kelsey Mosher (Oxford, MA) plated the first run with a bunt single.
Eastern faces SUNY Cortland at 10 a.m. and Kean University at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday at DiamondPlex.