Box Score SALEM, Va. – In 14 previous national softball tournaments, Eastern Connecticut State University had never lost its first two games.

That streak has continued in its 15^th national tournament appearance.

Coming of a 4-2, eight-inning loss in its tournament opener to Trine University that began Thursday night and was completed Friday morning, third-seeded and No. 3 nationally-ranked Eastern (44-6) spotted Millikin University (37-9) a first-inning run, tied the game in the third, scored two go-ahead runs in the fourth and pulled away with five runs in the seventh to remain alive in the eight-team, double-elimination tournament, 8-1, Saturday afternoon at the James I. Moyer Sports Complex.

Eastern, which tied the ten-year-old record for wins in a season with Saturday's victory, plays a second elimination game at approximately 9 p.m. Saturday night against the loser of a 2:30 p.m. winners' bracket game between top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Christopher Newport University and fifth-seeded Berry College.

Playing Millikin (Decatur, IL) for the eighth time overall but first time in the post-season, Eastern got another strong pitching performance from first-team NFCA All-America righty Alexis Michon (Monville), who allowed only one hit and no runs after the first inning to record her 21^st consecutive victory. Michon (24-1) equaled the third-most wins in program history with her 104-pitch effort, giving up three singles while fanning three and walking two. Senior righty Morgan Bolduk (Vernon), a second-team All-America as a sophomore in 2019, needed only four pitches to close it out after taking over after the leadoff batter in the seventh singled.

Eastern punctuated the victory with its second infield double play of the game – a game-ender started by rookie shortstop Maggie Rubeck (Easthampton) – giving Eastern more than one double play in a game for the first time this season.

Trailing 1-0, Eastern tied the game with two singles and two sacrifice bunts in the third inning, graduate rightfielder Alexis Tyrrell (Torrington) plating pinch runner Maggie Baker (Hudson, MA) with a sacrifice bunt.
 

The Warriors took the lead for good with two runs in the fourth, the rally starting when senior third baseman Julia SanGiovanni (East Haven) was hit by a pitch – extending her career (54) and season (22) records in that department. Michon sacrificed pinch runner Taylor Darby (South Windsor) to second and Darby swiped third while Millikin was completing a strikeout with a throw to first base. With runners at the corners, Darby slid home on a wild pitch to put Eastern in front for good and No. 9 hitter Laura Zenk (Hermon, ME) sent home junior second baseman Alyssa Vilchez (Brampton, ON) – who had stolen third base – with a ground ball to the right side that travelled into shallow right field that made it 3-1.

In the seventh, Eastern equaled its hit total (5) from its first-round loss – four straight to open the inning – in tacking on five insurance runs against third-team All-America Addison Sargent, who had replaced starter Aly Armstrong (16-6) to start the fifth. With none out and the bases loaded, Tyrrell knocked in the first run with a single and SanGiovanni's walk made it 5-1. Michon's sacrifice fly plated Tyrrell, who reached with her right hand on an outside slide that allowed her to avoid the tag of catcher Leah Foreman and senior leftfielder Carley Stoker (Sandy Creek, NY) closed the books with a two-out, two-run double that allowed pinch runner Emma Sands (Danbury) and SanGiovanni to score.

Second-team All-America rightfielder Kendallyn Davison scored Millikin's lone run when she singled down the left field line to open the bottom of the first and later scored on Camryn Skundberg's two-out single. The Big Blue threatened to expand the lead in the second, but Michon stranded Gretchen Gould at third with an inning-ending strikeout of Davison.

From there, Michon allowed only three baserunners (two errors and a walk) until Cassie Reed led off the seventh with a single that ended her day in favor of Bolduk.

Hitless in the first-game loss, graduate centerfielder CassieWoods (Mystic) broke the program's nine-year-old season hit record with her 72^nd with a first-pitch single that helped Eastern tie the game with its run in the third. Woods added a second hit and scored a run in the five-run seventh.

Woods, senior catcher Carolyn Biel (Wallingford) and Zenk all had two hits, with Biel reaching three times. Biel and SanGiovanni each scored once, with their pinch runners also crossing the plate once.
Entering the game with a season record for fielding average (.978), Eastern committed its first errors (3) in nine post-season games this year, none of which proved costly.

The game was a record 50^th of the season for Eastern and the Warriors' 70^th in a national tournament since 1981. Millikin had won its first regional title two weeks ago and had advanced to its first national tournament by sweeping Wartburg to win the Decatur Super Regional last weekend. The Big Blue was within an out of upsetting second-seeded Salisbury University in their first national tournament game ever Thursday but lost in nine innings, 6-5, to fall into today's elimination game.