ANNVILLE, Pa. – For the second time in three hours, second-seeded Eastern Connecticut State University came up just short in a seventh-inning rally, leaving the tying run on second base as the Warriors were eliminated from the 2023 NCAA Division III Annville, PA softball regional tournament with a 3-2 loss to third-seeded host Lebanon Valley College Friday evening at the LVC Softball Park.

In a winners' bracket game earlier in the day, Eastern (29-12) scored all three of its runs in the seventh inning but left the bases loaded in a 5-3 loss to top-seeded and No. 15 nationally-ranked University of Rochester.

Eastern had opened the tournament Thursday with a 4-1 win over Lebanon Valley (34-10), with senior righty Carley Stoker (Sandy Creek, NY) throwing a one-hitter in outdueling Jordan Walter (18-4) in a battle of conference Pitchers-of-the-Year.

In Friday's re-match, Walter threw a seven-hit complete game and allowed more than one hit in an inning only once until the seventh. Leading 3-1, Walter retired the first two hitters of the seventh before senior utility player and Little East Conference Player-of-the-Year Alyssa Vilchez (Brampton, ON) kept the season alive with a double to right-center. With two runners aboard, senior Taylor Darby (South Windsor), batting cleanup for the first time this year, cut the gap to one run with a single to left on a one-strike pitch that scored Vilchez and moved the tying run in the former of senior infielder Julia SanGiovanni (East Haven) to second. Walter needed only one pitch to move her team into Saturday's championship round, however, getting a game-ending foul fly to Sam Burns in left.

Stoker (16-3) gave up a run in the first on two singles and a stolen base and the Dutchmen made it 3-0 with two more runs in the fourth when the first two batters reached on singles and a hit-by-pitch that loaded the bases with none out. Stoker got a swinging strikeout for the first out, but No. 9 hitter Danni Holmes drove in a run with an infield single to third and Burn's sacrifice fly to sophomore Maggie Baker (Hudson, MA) in center plated Lindsey McCurdy from third with the second run of the inning.

Eastern, which finished just one win shy of another 30-win season despite integrating six first-time starters into the lineup, tied the game with a run in the fourth but squandered an ideal chance for more when Walter left the bases loaded with a strikeout, infield ground ball that produced a force at home for the second out, and a check-swing inning-ending ground ball to first. SanGiovanni had opened the inning with her 47^th career double – one shy of the all-time record – and Darby and first-year sophomore Maddi Sauve (Mansfield) followed with singles, Sauve's coming on a squeeze bunt that allowed pinch runner Kaylee Armida (Pine Bush, NY) to score from third.

Trailing 3-1, Eastern threatened again in the fifth when Vilchez single through the right side and SanGiovanni drew the second of her three walks, but Walter caught an infield popup for the second out and a routine ground ball to third ended the inning.
 
Darby singled twice to end the season on a 17-game-hitting streak while junior utility player Sarah Remillard (Grafton, MA) was kept off the bases for the first time in the last 25 games when she grounded out three times batting from the leadoff position. Stoker doubled down the left field line with two out in the second inning to finish her three-year Eastern career with 95 hits and a 37-6 pitching record.

With nine new or untested players seeing time in three NCAA games, the Warriors batted just .227 and committed five errors. In the tournament, SanGiovanni batted .667 (4-for-6) with three walks and two hit-by-pitch for an .818 on-base percentage, fellow veterans Darby and Vilchez both batting .400 (4-for-10). Stoker batted .286 (2-for-7), but the remainder of the team managed only two hits (both singles) in 39 at-bats (.051). Stoker pitched in all three games had a 2.33 ERA in 15 tournament innings, winning one of two decisions.

While the No. 24 nationally-ranked Warriors posted their second unbeaten season in the Little East this year, they managed a final  record of just 11-10 against non-conference opponents.