Box Score UNION, N.J. – Senior leftfielder Carley Stoker (Sandy Creek, NY) hit a two-run home run to highlight a four-run first inning that was aided by a two-out infield throwing error and senior Morgan Bolduk (Vernon) and sophomore Alexis Michon (Montville) combined on a two-hitter that carried the top-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University softball team to an 8-0, six-inning victory over second-seeded and host Kean University in the championship game of the NCAA Division III Union, NJ Regional that gave the Warriors their second regional championship in three years Monday at Cougar Field.
 
A winner of 28 of its last 30, No. 3 nationally-ranked Eastern (41-5) will host its second best-of-three Super Regional in three years Friday and Saturday at Clyde Washburne Field against Ashland, VA Regional champion and No. 16-ranked and first-time opponent Randolph-Macon College (35-9). The teams will play Friday at 2 p.m. and again Saturday at noon. A decisive game, if needed, is schedule for 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
 
In winning its 15^th regional championship in program history, Eastern climbed out of the losers' bracket (for the seventh time in program history) following a 3-2 second-round loss to Kean (32-10) Saturday to mercy-rule third-seeded Alfred University, 10-0 in five innings Sunday morning and defeat unbeaten Kean, 5-1, later Sunday to set up Monday's winner-take-all showdown.
 
In the final Monday morning, Bolduk and Michon (21-1) each shut down Kean on one hit and no walks in three innings of work, with Bolduk fanning three and Michon two. It was only the second time this year that the Cougars have been shut out.
 
Michon appeared in all five tournament games – three in relief – and was credited with her second tournament win Monday. As one of five Eastern players named to the all-tournament team, Michon was named the Most Outstanding Player. She allowed only two earned runs on four singles and six walks in 16 2/3 tournament innings for a 0.84 ERA, striking out 19. At bat, she was 6-for-11 with four runs scored, a walk and two sacrifice bunts.
 
Bolduk allowed only an infield single with two out in the top of the first and struck out cleanup hitter Gabriella Fredette on a 3-2 pitch to end the threat. Michon came on for her staff-leading 27 appearance of the year with a 5-0 lead and retired the first five batters in order before Sarah Zengel laced a clean single to right with two out in the fifth. Playing left field, Stoker's standout running catch toward the left field foul line accounted for the second out of the fourth.
 
Ranked 14^th nationally with a .350+ team batting average, Eastern collected 11 hits off senior righty Heather Clevenger (15-3) and junior righty Annabella Marino, three for extra bases. Clevenger, who was  lifted in the second inning of Eastern's win over the Cougars Sunday, did not survive the first inning Monday but was victimized by a two-out infield throwing error that opened the gates for all four of Eastern's first-inning runs.
 

In the bottom of the first, Clevenger retired the first two Eastern batters before senior All-America first baseman Brooke Matyasovsky (Orange) singled on the first pitch she saw.  Senior third baseman Julia SanGiovanni's (East Haven) routine ground ball to short was then thrown over the head of first baseman Isabella Polash to keep the inning alive, and the Warriors capitalized with four straight hits. Michon drove in the first two runs with a double, and Stoker's second home run of the series – eighth of the year – made it 4-0.
 
Another infield error made it 5-0 in the third, allowing Michon to come home from third. Michon walked to open the inning, moving to second on a wild pitch, and to third on junior second baseman Alyssa Vilchez' (Brampton, ON) sacrifice bunt.
 
Eastern closed out the game with three runs in the sixth without an out being recorded for its 14^th mercy-rule victory of the season. Hitting for the first time in the tournament, junior Taylor Darby (South Windsor) had a pinch two-run double to make it 7-0 and Matyasovsky extended her program season (59) and career (153) records for RBI by driving in Darby with a single that ended the tournament.
 
In the game, Michon reached three times with two singles and a walk, scored two runs and drove in two while senior centerfielder Cassie Woods (Mystic) had two hits, stole a base and scored a run. As a pinch runner for Michon in the fifth, first-year player Maggie Baker (Hudson, MA) stole her 27^th base without being caught. With three stolen bases in the tournament, Baker moved into second place all-time in consecutive stolen bases behind only Leanne Shoop's record 31.
 
Joining Michon on the all-tournament team from Eastern were Bolduk, Vilchez, Stoker and Woods. Bolduk was 1-1 with a 2.71 ERA in three appearances, fanning nine in 10 1/3 innings; in addition to starting and winning Sunday's game against Kean (four innings pitched, 1 earned run) Vilchez batted .333 (4-for-12) with two doubles, three runs scored, two walks, and two RBI and handled seven chances in the field without an error; Stoker batted .286 (4-for-14) with two home runs, four runs, five RBI and two walks; and Woods batted a team-leading .550 (11-for-20) with four runs scored, two RBI and three stolen bases. She also was perfect on nine fielding chances. Her 68 hits this season are three shy of All-America Arielle Cooper's record set in 2013.
 
In the tournament, Eastern batted .333, did not commit an error, and had a 1.58 staff ERA with 29 strikeouts and only 12 hits (10 singles) allowed.