COLUMBUS, Ga. – If nothing else, the outcome for the Eastern Connecticut State University softball team at the season-opening NFCA Leadoff Classic this weekend served as a measuring stick for a team which lost a top pitcher and two middle-of-the-order hitters from last year's NCAA tournament qualifier.

Coming off its first tournament victory Saturday night, the team closed out play in the classic Sunday morning with its fourth loss, an 8-2 decision to No. 13 nationally-ranked Illinois Wesleyan University at the South Commons Complex.

For the fourth time in five games, Eastern's (1-4) opposing pitcher went the distance, sophomore righty Mackenzie Marquis spinning a five-hitter (four of them singles) with eight strikeouts for Illinois Wesleyan (2-3).

After gaining the team's first win Saturday night, 4-3, with three innings of two-hit relief (no earned runs) against SUNY Oneonta, Eastern junior righty Samantha Valentine (Ridge, NY) carried a 2-1 lead into the fifth Sunday before the Titans chased her by scoring five runs on five hits. The big blows in the inning came against junior lefty reliever Summer Cipriani (North Stonington) – a two-run double by 2015 All-America second baseman Laura Bonds and an RBI single by cleanup hitter Danielle Smith, both seniors.

Eastern had tied the game in the second inning on senior third baseman Samantha Rentz's (Griswold) leadoff double and a one-out sacrifice fly by Cipriani, and took the lead with a run in the third on a leadoff single by junior centerfielder Samantha Bardos (Norwalk) and a two-out single by Rentz.

Bardos and Rentz combined for all five of Eastern's hits. Bardos was 3-for-3 with a run and Rentz 2-for-3 with a run and RBI.

Bonds drove in three runs with two hits and Smith two runs for the Titans, who are coming off last year's  36-10 record and a quick two-game exit from the NCAA Division III regional tournament, which they hosted.

In five tournament games over the weekend – two against nationally-ranked opponents and two against perennial NCAA tournament contenders – Eastern batted .175 with three extra-base hits, 30 strikeouts, 12 errors, 16 stolen bases allowed, and a 5.37  pitching ERA. Bardos topped the team with a .357 batting average (5-for-14) and matched senior All-America shortstop Alyssa Hancock (Waterford) with one home run.

Eastern plays the first of eight games in Clermont, Fl Sunday against College of St. Scholastica at 3 p.m.