LEC Tournament Bracket

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Senior All-America shortstop Alyssa Hancock (Waterford) had two hits in each game to become the third player in Eastern Connecticut State University softball history to reach 200 in a career as the Warriors locked up the sixth and final Little East Conference tournament seed with 13-0, 4-2 victories over Rhode Island College Saturday afternoon at the Dayna A. Bazar Complex. The first game was stopped after five innings.

After battering three Rhode Island (12-20, 3-11 LEC) for 15 hits in the opener, Eastern (15-23, 6-8 LEC) scored single runs in four innings to carry a shutout into the sixth inning of the nightcap, and senior righty Emily Komornik (Shelton) came on to get the final five outs and record the staff's first save of the season.

Eastern has a string of six straight LEC regular-season championships halted this year and the Warriors will open defense of last year's LEC tournament title when they travel to top-seeded Keene State College Tuesday for a first-round game in the double-elimination tournament. The highest remaining seed will host the remaining games in the tournament, scheduled for this Friday though Sunday.

Hancock reached the 200-career hit plateau with her second of three hits in the opener, and added another in the nightcap to give her 202 in her career, four behind Priscilla Alicea for second place.  In the doubleheader, Hancock had a double, triple, scored seven runs, drove in one and was 4-for-4 in stolen bases. She also handled 11 chances in the field without an error.

Junior infielder Gina Georgetti (Milford) had four hits and drove in three runs on the day and junior first baseman Summer Cipriani (North Stonington) reached base five times with three hits and two walks. The lefty also pitched into the sixth inning of the second game to earn her seventh win in 15 decisions. She allowed five hits and both runs with two strikeouts and no walks.

Junior righty Samantha Valentine (Ridge, NY) recorded her first shutout of the season in the first game. She tossed a complete-game two-hitter, walking one without a strikeout.

Eastern staked Valentine (7-9) to a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Hancock opened the game with a single, stole second and rode home on Komornik's two-out single. Senior third baseman Samantha Rentz (Griswold) plated a third-inning run with a sacrifice fly in the third to make it 2-0. Cipriani doubled with one out in the fourth, advanced on a wild pitch, and scored on freshman rightfielder Kayla Santos' (Peabody) infield ground ball. The Warriors pushed the lead to 4-0 in the fifth when Hancock walked with one out, moved up on senior second baseman Danielle Robillard's (Swansea, MA) single and came in on Rentz' ground ball.

Rhode Island, which had won four straight LEC regular-season titles earlier this decade, did not qualify for the LEC tournament.