MANSFIELD, Conn. – Junior righty
Carley Stoker (Sandy Creek, NY) extended her season-opening scoreless streak to 29 1/3 innings with a six-inning complete-game two-hitter in the first game and the Warriors erased a three-run deficit with five runs in the sixth inning of the nightcap as No. 15 nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University softball team posted a 10-0, 7-3 non-conference sweep of Plymouth State University Thursday evening at Clyde Washburne Field. The first game was stopped after six innings.
The complete-game shutout was the fourth in four starts this year for Stoker, a first-year Division I transfer who has won all five of her decisions with one save. She has given up seven singles and a double this year with 30 strikeouts and 14 walks. Against Plymouth, Stoker allowed a two-out infield single in the fourth and a two-out single to center in the sixth.
Plymouth carried a 3-0 lead into the sixth inning of the second game before Eastern (8-0) erupted for all of its runs over its final two at-bats. The Warriors collected six of its game total of ten hits in a five-run sixth inning. Batting ninth, junior
Laura Zenk (Hermon, ME) led off the sixth with her first career home run – the first of the team's five straight hits. Stoker tied the game with a two-run double, winning pitcher
Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange) put the Warriors ahead with a double to center, and junior
Carolyn Biel's (Wallingford) ground ball chased home freshman pinch runner
Madison Flamme (Bethel) with the final run.
In the doubleheader, Eastern had 21 hits, 12 of which went for extra bases.
Matyasovsky (3-0) was touched for only one hit and two unearned runs over the final six innings in relief of freshman
Sarah Remillard (Grafton, MA), who was lifted after one inning of her first start (second appearance).
Senior
Alexis Tyrrell (Torrington) moved to within six hits of 100 in her career by leading the Warriors with five hits (four doubles), four runs scored and two RBI. Junior
Julia SanGiovanni (East Haven) drove in three runs with four hits, including a double and her first home run of the year; Stoker drove in five runs with a double and her third home run of the year; and Zenk finished with three hits, three runs, a triple and home run, two RBI and two stolen bases.
Eastern hosts Plymouth Saturday in a 2 p.m. Little East Conference doubleheader.
