CLERMONT, Fla. --  Freshman rightfielder Calli Duthrie (Griswold) preserved junior lefty Summer Cipriani's (North Stonington) first win of the season with a sliding, game-ending catch that stranded the tying and go-ahead runs as the Eastern Connecticut State University softball team won its first game in Florida with a 2-1 victory over the College of St. Scholastica Wednesday afternoon at the National Training Center.

Eastern (2-9) staked Cipriani to a 2-0 lead after two innings and Cipriani carried a three-hit shutout into the seventh before St. Scholastica (7-7) threatened. Cipriani (1-3) retired the first two batters of the seventh easily before surrendering three consecutive hits which produced the Saints' first run. With runners on first and third, pinch hitter Hannah Borgeson then drove a 2-1 pitch to the opposite field. Racing toward the first base line, Duthrie grabbed it with a dive to her left and held on as she hit the gound as the Warriors ended a six-game losing streak.

Earlier in the day, Eastern scored twice in the seventh to take a 9-8 lead, but the University of Chicago (5-1) tied the game on a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh and won the game, 10-9, when Eastern commited a balk with the bases loaded and none out in the eighth.

Eastern Conn. 2, St. Scholastica 1

After losing to St. Scholastic, 5-4 in eight innings in their Florida opener Sunday, the Warriors struck quickly Wednesday, taking a 2-0 lead on leadoff triple by senior All-America Alyssa Hancock (Waterford) and senior third baseman Samantha Rentz' (Griswold) suicide squeeze in the first and No. 9 hitter Danielle Robillard's (Swansea, MA) two-out opposite-field single in the second.

At left: Summer Cipriani

Cipriani scattered three hits through the first six innings, stranding two runners in scoring position and benefitting when Hancock at short turned a double play to end the third.

Cipriani ran into trouble in the seventh after quickly disposing of the first two hitters. Losing pitcher Maggie Schley (3-2) kept the inning alive with a single, moved to third on Kara Warren's double, and scored on Rendi Johnson's single to left. Warren, representing the tying run, was held at third. Ahead in the count, Borgeson hit the ball hard to the opposite field, where Duthrie came up with the game-winning catch.

Returning to her spot as the leadoff batter, Hancock led Eastern's ten-hit attack with a triple, double and single, while Robillard had two singles.

Chicago 10, Eastern Conn. 9 (8)

Eastern fell to 0-2 on the trip in eight-inning games, wasting junior right Samantha Valentine's (Ridge, NY) well-pitched game and giving away leads of 5-0 and 6-3.

The Warriors scored four unearned runs in the second on just one hit (two errors and two walks aided their cause) to move out to a 5-0 lead,  but gave those four unearned runs back in the sixth when the Maroons took an 8-7 lead on four hits and a two-out infield throwing error after there were two out and none.

Eastern had scored twice in the top of the seventh to take a 9-8 lead on Cipriani's tying double and senior Taylor Smyth's (Meriden) sacrifice bunt which was thrown wide of first base. The Maroons forced extra innings by tying the game, 9-9, in the bottom of the seventh on cleanup hitter Maggie O'Hara's two-out RBI single which plated Kristin Lopez, who reached on a catcher's balk.

With a runner starting on second base in accordance with the international tie-breaker rule, Chicago won the game in the bottom of the eighth. Anna Woolery reached safely while moving pinch runner Colleen Bennett to third before Maeve Garvey was intentionally walked to load the bases. A balk before the first pitch to Serena Moss forced Bennett across the plate with the winning run.

Valentine allowed only three earned runs on seven hits before sophomore righty Haeli Campbell (Goffstown, NH) took over with two out and a runner on second when the Maroons were scoring their four unearned runs in the sixth. Campbell induced an infield ground ball to Cipriani at first to end the inning after Garvey had chased Valentine with a two-out, two-run double to center to push Chicago into a 8-7 lead.

Three Chicago pitchers allowed seven Eastern hits, with leadoff hitter Samantha Bardos (Norwalk) and No. 8 hitter Gina Georgetti (Milford) each collecting two. Hancock drove in two runs with a two-out double in the four-run second inning and Robillard had two sacrifice bunts, drove in a run with a ground ball, and was robbed of extra bases on a diving stab by O'Hara at third. Bardos reached four times with two singles, a walk and hit-by-pitch. She also moved the go-ahead run to third with a sacrifice bunt in the eighth before O'Hara's stab at third on Robillard's drive and an infield ground ball ended the threat.

Eastern closes out its Florida trip Friday against Millikin University at 11 a.m. and Colby at 1 p.m.