MANSFIELD, Conn. --  Freshman lefty Jacky Arndt (Chelmsford, MA) won her first decision in over two weeks with a complete-game seven-hitter  and career-tying 11 strikeouts as the Eastern Connecticut State University softball team  won, 8-3, in the first game of a Little East Conference doubleheader against the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Tuesday afternoon at the Eastern Softball Stadium.

In the second game, UMass Dartmouth (17-15, 3-5 LEC) junior righty Hannah Smith matched Arndt's first-game performance with her own complete-game seven-hitter, fanning three without a walk in the Corsairs' 2-1 victory.

Eastern's (8-19, 4-4 LEC) first-game win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Warriors, who were swept by UMass Dartmouth a year ago after winning 19 consecutive games in the series.

Smith (9-7) started the first game and left after five innings of a 3-3 tie, and the Warriors jumped on freshman righty reliever Annika Evensen (Lake Forest, CA) by batting around and scoring five runs on five hits, a walk and hit batter . Sophomore second baseman Jackie Lewis (Mystic) got it going with a leadoff triple and scored the go-ahead run on a ground ball by sophomore shortstop Sara Pisanelli (Wallingford). Freshman third baseman Teresa Marchitto's (Orange) RBI single made it 5-3 and  sophomore leftfielder Kayla Santos (Peabody, MA) and senior first baseman Samantha Valentine (Ridge, NY) followed with run-scoring doubles, Valentine's plating two.

 In the second game, leadoff doubles by freshman third baseman Nicole Vachon and junior shortstop Emily Colton snapped a 1-1 tie in the top of the fifth as UMD halted a three-game losing streak with the  2-1 victory.

Eastern was unable to take the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning of the second game, when a leadoff hit batsman, double by junior leftfielder Jessica Seymour (Barkhamsted) and single by Valentine proved fruitless when the potential go-ahead run was cut down at the plate on a relay from UMD freshman leftfielder Nicole McSweeney to Colton at shortstop to home plate. Down 2-1, Eastern stranded four batters over the final three innings, with Smith getting an infield ground ball to strand the potential tying run at first to end the game.

Valentine (3-7) and freshman lefty Morgan Sanson (Thomaston) combined on an eight-hitter in Eastern's second-game loss. Sanson gave up only one hit with three strikeouts and no walks over the final two innings.

McSweeney had five singles and scored twice in the doubleheader for UMass, which was limited to only two doubles among its 15 hits on the day.

Seymour led Eastern's 17-hit attack with three hits, including a double, with Valentine driving in three runs with two hits and Pisanelli adding two hits, two runs and an RBI.

Eastern  visits Salve Regina University Thursday for a 4 p.m. non-conference doubleheader.