MANSFIELD, Conn. – Sophomore cleanup hitter
Tori Heaphy's (East Haven) game-winning single in the bottom of the seventh inning scored first-year player
Emma Marelli (Waterford) from third for the team's third walk-off win in as many games in the opener and senior righty
Alyssa Vilchez (Brampton, ON) pitched the 41
st no-hitter in program history in the nightcap as the Eastern Connecticut State University softball team swept Castleton University, 4-3 and 10-0 in five innings Saturday afternoon at Clyde Washburne Field.
Castleton (10-10, 3-3 LEC) tied the first game, 3-3 on a leadoff triple and infield error in the top of the seventh inning before Eastern (14-8, 6-0 LEC) won it in the bottom of the inning on Marelli's leadoff walk, a sacrifice bunt by junior
Sarah Remillard (Grafton, MA), an intentional walk to No. 3 hitter
Julia SanGiovanni (East Haven) and Heaphy's game-ending single to left-center.
Making her 15
th career start, Vilchez (7-2) pitched her first career no-hitter and the 41
st no-hitter in program history but only the third in the past 11 years. Vilchez faced two batters over the minimum while fanning four – three in the first inning. Vilchez retired the first eight batters in order before No. 9 hitter Kayla Fac reached on a two-out infield error with Eastern leading 1-0, in the top of the third. Vilchez then walked Kate Lapan but got a ground ball to end the inning. Vilchez walked leadoff batter Allison Almond leading off the fourth but got a ground ball double play to end the inning.
Leading 1-0 in the second game, Eastern sent 14 batters to the plate in the bottom of the third, scoring nine runs (eight unearned) on four hits, five walks, a hit batsman and an infield error and went on to its sixth home win in as many games. Vilchez and senior
Taylor Darby (South Windsor) had back-to-back doubles in the inning, Vilchez' plating two runs and Darby driving in one, and Heaphy followed later in the inning with a two-run double of her own. Marelli and SanGiovanni both reached twice in the inning, SanGiovanni scoring both times.
In the first game, senior righty
Carley Stoker (Sandy Creek, NY) improved to 7-1 this year and 28-4 in her career with a complete-game seven-hitter. She walked two and fanned double-digit batters (10) for the second time in three starts. Stoker allowed only three hits after giving up four hits and runs to the first two hitters of the game in the first inning. Eastern got one run back in the fourth on SanGiovanni's 19
th career home run (tied for fifth all-time) and took a 3-2 lead with two unearned runs in the fifth with the help of first-year sophomore transfer
Ally Gruca's (Lancaster, MA) leadoff double and Darby's bunt single. The Spartans tied it, 3-3, in the top of the seventh before Heaphy won it in the bottom of the inning.
Eastern visits Keene State College Tuesday at 3 p.m. in a Little East Conference doubleheader.