Little East Conference Tournament Web Site

DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Sophomore righty Morgan Bolduk (Vernon) pitched a complete-game one-hit shutout with nine strikeouts, and freshmen Julia SanGiovanni (East Haven) and Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange) socked home runs to lead the third-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University softball team to an opening 8-0, six-inning win over No. 4 University of Southern Maine Thursday afternoon on the first day of the Little East Conference tournament at the UMD Softball Complex. 

With its first LEC tournament win over Southern Maine (21-17) after six losses, Eastern (26-11) advances into the winners' bracket of the six-team, double-elimination tournament. The Warriors, winners of eight of their last 12, face No. 5 seed and two-time defending tournament champion University of Massachusetts Boston (22-18) Friday at noon. The Beacons shut out No. 2 Plymouth State University, 2-0, in Thursday's second game. Eastern swept UMass Boston, 5-4, 6-3, at Clyde Washburne field April 6.

In her first post-season at-bat, SanGiovanni gave Eastern a 1-0 lead with her fourth home run to left leading off the second, and Matyasovsky belted her eighth homer of the season – a three-run shot to left-center – that capped a five-run fourth that made it 7-0.

Eastern played small-ball to set the stage for Matyasovsky's three-run blast. Left-handed hitters Sabrina LeMere (North Branford) and Calli Duthrie (Griswold) legged out infield singles sandwiched around a sacrifice bunt by senior Megan Hodgdon (Cheshire), and a walk to Bolduk loaded the bases. Another walk to sophomore Alexis Tyrrell (Torrington) forced in the first run of the inning, and a wild pitch plated Duthrie with the second before Matyasovsky launched a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence.

At left: Freshman Laura Zenk evades the tag of Southern Maine shortstop Ashley Tinsman for this fifth-inning stolen base.

Batting cleanup, Matyasovsky drove in four runs on the day. After SanGiovanni's leadoff homer in the second, Matyasovsky made it 2-0 with a suicide squeeze bunt in the third. Tyrrell had opened the inning with a double down the left field line and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by junior Sara Pisanelli (Wallingford). Matyasovsky's eighth home run in the fourth equals the sixth-highest season total by a player in Eastern history and established a freshman record.

Bolduk (12-1), who had shut out Southern Maine on three hits March 24, did not allow a hit after Brooke Cross's two-out single in the first. Bolduk retired 11 straight before issuing a one-out walk in the fifth to Hannah Kenney. The shutout was the fifth in 11 starts this year for Bolduk and lowered her LEC-leading ERA to 1.01.