Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 GORHAM, Me. – Junior righty Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange) rebounded from her first two losses of the season within the previous 48 hours by throwing a critical complete-game eight-hitter and retiring the potential tying run at the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning as the No. 3 nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University softball team salvaged a split of Sunday's Little East Conference doubleheader with leader University of Southern Maine.
 
As it was prior to the doubleheader, the teams remain a game apart in the race for the LEC regular-season title and No. 1 tournament seed after Southern Maine (25-2-1, 11-1 LEC) won the opener, 7-6 and Eastern took the nightcap, 6-3, at the USM Softball Stadium.
 
Each team has two LEC doubleheaders remaining, Eastern visiting Keene State College (4-8 LEC) Tuesday and hosting Massachusetts Boston (2-8) Saturday and the Huskies hosting Castleton University (6-6) Saturday after making up a pair at Plymouth State University  (6-2) at some point this week.
 
The LEC double-elimination tournament is scheduled to beginning Tuesday,May 11.
 
Coming off a second-game loss to Castleton Friday that handed Eastern its first loss after 21 wins, Eastern couldn't hold leads of 5-2 after 4 ½ innings and 6-2 after 5 ½ innings. The hosts scored two in the sixth to cut Eastern's lead to 6-5 and won it in the seventh.  Hannah Shields' leadoff double in the seventh knocked out Eastern junior righty Carley Stoker (Sandy Creek, NY) out of the game, a one-out ground ball tied the game and Kaitlyn Nelson's RBI double off Matyasovsky (11-2) ended the game.
 
In the nightcap, Matyasovsky allowed only one extra-base hit on the mound, but chipped in one of her own by socking her 12^th home run of the season – fifth in six games -- and 22^nd of her career to highlight a three-run seventh inning that vaulted the Warriors into a 6-1 lead. A leadoff walk and senior third baseman Alexis Tyrrell's (Torrington) RBI bunt single had driven in the first run of the inning before Matyasovsky launched her two-run shot.

In control of a three-run lead, Matyasovsky retired the first batter of the seventh but USM responded with four singles to cut the lead to 6-5 and had two runners aboard before Matyasovsky got a ground ball to Tyrrell at third to end the game.

In addition to stopping her personal two-game losing streak, Matyasovsky brought USM's 15-game win streak to a halt, and, like Castleton had done to her team two days earlier -- gave USM its first conference loss. Until Sunday, USM had not lost in almost exactly one month in a 13-9 second-game home loss to RHode Island College in a non-conference doubleheader. The Huskies had outscored RIC 9-3 in that game after giving up ten first-inning runs
 
Matyasovsky had two hits in each game – also doubling twice in the opener -- to keep her batting average over .500 (.506) and move to within ten of 100 hits in just 73 games. She scored three times and drove in two runs with the homer. Batting leadoff, Tyrrell also had four hits, drove in three runs, scored two and stole two bases, while senior catcher and captain Megan Hodgdon (Cheshire) reached four times with three hits, drove in a pair  and  scored a run. Batting ninth, junior leftfielder Laura Zenk (Hermon, ME) drove in three runs in the first game with a two-run double in the a five-run fourth inning in the opener and an RBI ground ball in the sixth. She also set up Tyrrell's RBI bunt single in the seventh inning of the second game with a sacrifice bunt.
 
Second-game starter and loser Alexis Brown had three hits and three RBI for the Huskies, delivering a two-out, two-run double in the sixth inning of the first game that cut Eastern's lead to 6-5 and set the stage for USM's walk-off win.

Matyasovsky's 12th home run moved her into second place in a season, four behind first-team All-America Arielle Cooper in 2013 and her 22nd career home run moved her into third place all-time, 18 behind Cooper.

Eastern came away with the road split despite missing three starters who have combined on a .512 batting average this year.