MANSFIELD, Conn. – The Eastern Connecticut State University softball team popped into game-ending double play while trying to squeeze home the tying run in the bottom of the seventh inning as Castleton University ended the No.-3 ranked Warriors' opening 21-game winning streak with a 6-5 victory in the second game of a Little East Conference doubleheader Friday afternoon at Clyde Washburne Field.
Eastern (21-1, 9-1 LEC) rode junior righty
Carley Stoker (Sandy Creek's) three-hitter to a 4-2 victory in the opener. Stoker (11-0) fanned seven and walked five and Eastern scored four runs in the fifth on junior
Brooke Matyasovsky's (Orange) two-run home run and RBI singles by junior
Laura Zenk (Hermon, ME) and
Alexis Tyrrell (Torrington).
Castleton (13-9, 6-6 LEC) never trailed in the nightcap in handing Matyasovsky (10-1) her first loss. The Spartans scored three in the top of the sixth to move out to a 6-2 before Eastern got one back in the sixth and cut the gap to one on Matyasovsky's second two-run home run of the day – her 11
th of the year and 21
st of her career. Tyrrell walked to open the seventh, stole second and later rode home on Matyasovsky's one-out, two-run shot to make it 6-5. Stoker then tripled to put the tying run on third but was doubled up on the failed game-tying suicide squeeze attempt.
Matyasovsky's 11 home runs this year equal second most in a season in program history only behind former first-team All-America Arielle Cooper's 2013 total of 16. Her 21 career home runs equal the third-highest in program history, 19 behind Cooper, the all-time leader.
Freshman righty Katie Gallagher pitched into the fifth inning of the first game for Castleton, allowing six hits and walking just one in sustaining her first loss after four wins. She returned in relief of the nightcap to gain the win. She gave up seven hits in five innings while walking two and allowing all five runs.
Junior leadoff hitter Makenna Thorne had two hits and two RBI for the Spartans in the second game and Tyrrell slammed two-run home run in the Eastern fifth – her third of the season – to pull the Warriors to within 3-2.
Eastern visits the University of Southern Maine Sunday for a 2 p.m. conference doubleheader. Following Eastern's second-game loss Friday, the Huskies (24-1-1, 10-0 LEC) took over sole possession of first place.
