CLERMONT, Fla. -- Senior All-America first baseman Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange) tied the program record for a game with seven RBI -- six of them coming on a pair of three-run home runs in the first inning -- to pace the No. 6 nationally-ranked Eastern Connecticut State University softball team to a 19-0, 5 inning victory over Franklin & Marshall College  on the way to two wins on the day Tuesday at Legends Field.
 

In the second game, junior pitcher Alyssa Vilchez (Brampton, ON) retired the final six batters in order to record her first career save in Eastern's (8-2) 4-1 victory over Endicott College.
 

Against Franklin & Marshall (8-5), Eastern sent 14 batters to the plate in the first inning in staking senior pitcher Carley Stoker (Sandy Creek, NY) to a 10-0 lead before she threw a pitch. 
 

The first three hitters in the lineup -- senior centerfielder Cassie Woods (Mystic), junior leftfielder Taylor Darby (South Windsor) and Matyasovsky -- all reached base twice and scored twice in the first inning against F&M. 
 

Matyasovsky drove in Woods and Darby twice with a three-run home run as the third batter in the inning that made it 3-0 and another three-run shot with one out to close out the ten-run inning.
 

Matyasovsky's second and third home runs of the season give her 28 in her career, tying her for second place all-time with four-time All-America utility player Molly Rathbun and moving her to within 12 of tying the career record of 40 set by former All-America third baseman Arielle Cooper.

 

Stoker (1-1) retired 11 straight after surrending two of F&M's three singles before giving up a single and walk to open the fifth. She fanned six and walked only one.

 

Matyasovsky became the fourth player to drive in seven runs in a game, most recently by former team captain Megan Hodgdon  in 2019. Hodgdon became the first player to perform the feat in 41 seasons. With her first-inning home run, Matyasovsky became the seventh player in program history to record as many as 100 career RBI.

At left: Alyssa Vilchez
 

Against F&M, ten players had at least one hit, ten scored at least one run and seven drove in a run.

 

Woods had three hits, scored three runs and drove in two runs, with No. 9 hitter Alexis Tyrrell (Torrington) scoring twice and driving in two runs, Stoker driving in three runs with a bases-clearing double in a six-run second inning, Darby scoring runs in each of her first three plate appearances and driving in two, and senior catcher Carolyn Biel (Wallingford) reaching three times with two hits and a walk and scoring two runs (with her pinch runner scoring a third run).

 

 

Eastern posted its second 4-1 win in its four Florida contests this week against Endicott (2-3) in the first meeting between the programs since the Warriors' 7-4 win in the NCAA regionals in 2021.

 

Eastern broke open a tight game with three runs on five hits (two doubles) and a walk against Endicott junior lefty Maria Hanchuk that vaulted the Warriors into a 4-0 lead and spelled the end of the day for Eastern sophomore pitcher Alexis Michon (Montville).

 

Coming off a no-hitter Monday in the Florida opener against SUNY Fredonia, Michon (5-1) extended her streak to 12 consecutive scoreless innings (four hits, 21 strikeouts, three walks) before giving way to senior All-America Morgan Bolduk (Vernon) to start the sixth.

 

All three opposing batters reached on singles against Bolduk to open the sixth inning for Endicott before Vilchez shut the door by allowing only one ball out of the infield. Facing the tying run with the bases loaded and none out, Vilchez got an RBI ground ball by pinch hitter Paige Berdos for the first out, then ended the threat with consecutive five-pitch strikeouts. Vilchez closed it out with a 1-2-3 seventh, getting comebackers for the final two outs.

 

Hanchuk allowed her first earned run this year in 11 innings when Biel drove in senior third baseman Julia SanGiovanni (East Haven) with a one-out single in the second. The Warriors pieced together five of their game total of 12 hits in the fifth when six straight batters reached safely with one out, with Matyasovsky (double) and SanGiovanni (bunt single) both driving in runs.

 

Batting at the top of the order, Woods, Darby, Matyasovsky and SanGiovanni combined for six hits, three runs and two RBI, with Biel going 2-for-2 with a double, walk and RBI.

 

Eastern faces Salve Regina (9 a.m.) and College of Wooster (11:15 a.m.) Thursday at Clermont.