MANSFIELD, Conn. -- Junior shortstop
Julia SanGiovanni (East Haven) homered on the first two pitches she saw in nearly three weeks to power the Eastern Connecticut State University softball team to 9-1 (6 inn.), 11-0 (5 inn.) Little East Conference victories over the University of Massachusetts Boston on the final day of the regular season Saturday at Clyde Washburne Field.
Eastern (26-2, 14-2 LEC), ranked sixth nationally, closed out the regular season with five straight conference wins and finishes second in the conference standings behind the University of Southern Maine (29-2-1, 15-1 LEC), which swept two LEC doubleheaders in 24 hours to maintain its one-game lead over the Warriors.
Seniors honored after Saturday's Little East sweep were Kat Devolve
(center, holding plak) and Megan Hodgdon (holding flowers).
Top-seeded Southern Maine, whose only loss in its last 20 games came in a split of Eastern six days ago at Gorham, ME, and second-seeded Eastern will host three-team double-elimination tournament pods beginning Tuesday in the LEC tournament. The survivors of each pod will meet in a best-of-three showdown next Saturday at the highest remaining seed for the tournament championship and automatic NCAA tournament bid.
Eastern's pod includes third-seeded Plymouth State University (15-11/10-6 LEC) and sixth-seeded Keene State College (7-21/6-10 LEC). The Owls slipped into the final spot after Western Connecticut dropped the second game of a Sunday doubleheader against visiting Plymouth.
On Tuesday, Plymouth faces Keene State at 1:30 p.m., with the winner meeting Eastern at 4 p.m. With a first-game win, Eastern would need one win Thursday to advance to the best-of-three series Saturday. A loss in their first game Tuesday drops the Warriors into an elimination game Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
Against UMass Boston (3-12, 3-12 LEC), Eastern had 23 hits – including four home runs – for its 49
th and 50
th wins in this 54-game series, with three pitchers limiting UMB to six singles on the day.
SanGiovanni smacked a leadoff home run on the first pitch she saw from UMB freshman starter Brianna Melchionda in a three-run third inning that broke the Eastern season team home run record of 33, set in 2013 and equaled two years ago. She followed with a two-run, two-out shot in the fourth inning off junior reliever Haley Catania – her first home runs since March 25.
Junior
Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange) and sophomore
Alyssa Vilchez (Brampton, ON) combined on a one-hitter in the second game, with Matyasovsky (13-2) fanning three without a walk and allowing only a two-out single to No. 9 hitter Elsa Vinacco (Bolton, MA) in the third inning. Junior righty
Carley Stoker (Sandy Creek, NY) pitched a complete-game five-hitter with eight strikeouts and one walk in the opener for her 13
th victory without a loss.
Senior captian Megan Hodgdon was named
as the 36th recipient of the Jeffrey W. Anderson
Memorial Award prior to Saturday's game.
She is shown above with her parents Julie and Ken.
SanGiovanni, senior outfielder
Alexis Tyrrell (Torrington) and senior catcher
Megan Hodgdon (Cheshire) each had four hits, with Tyrrell and Hodgdon also hitting home runs. Tyrrell homered with one out in the fifth inning of the first game and Hodgdon belted a two-out grand slam on the first pitch she saw from UMB second-game starter Megham Adams to help Eastern to a five-run first inning in the nightcap. Tyrrell also stole two bases on the day to give her a team-leading 18.
Tyrrell reached six times with four hits, a walk and hit-by-pitch and scored four runs. Hodgdon scored three times, while Vilchez reached four times with three hits, scored twice and drove in a run in a six-run fourth inning in the nightcap. Junior third baseman
Carolyn Biel (Wallingford) reached four times with two hits and two hit-by-pitch, scored three times and had two RBI.
Eastern honored seniors Hodgdon and outfielder
Kat Devolve (Plainfield) following the final regular-season home games of their careers. Hodgdon had eight putouts and four assists behind the plate and was 4-for-6 with three runs and four RBI. Devolve appeared in both games, starting the first game in center field and going 1-for-2 with a run and RBI on the day.
The 14 LEC regular-season wins match the team's most in 25 years of LEC regular-season play. In 2012, the Warriors finished 14-0 and went on to the second of six straight LEC tournament championships. Eastern is the defending tournament champion, winning all four of its games in 2019 and going on to a third-place national finish.
