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TUCSON, Ariz. – Graduate third baseman Julia SanGiovanni (East Haven) has made her mark as one of the top extra-base threats in Eastern Connecticut State University softball history, but Monday afternoon at Lincoln Park, it was her bunt single and two ensuing throwing errors that plated three tie-breaking runs in the fifth inning that helped the Warriors to a 5-3 victory over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges.

Eastern (2-2) scored two first-inning runs against CMS (4-4) and later used that three-run fifth inning that snapped a tie and sent the Warriors to their first win of the year which was followed later in the day with a 15-1, five-inning rout of Dickinson College.

With the score tied 2-2 against CMS, the Warriors pushed across three unearned runs on just one hit (the bunt by SanGiovanni) in the fifth and rode the combined pitching of graduate righty Alyssa Vilchez (Brampton, ON) and junior lefty Alexa Boone (Middletown) and solid defense which produced three double plays for the second time in four games.

After the Athenas bunched seven of their ten hits to score single runs in the fourth and fifth that tied the game at two-all, Eastern countered with three runs after there was one out in the fifth. With senior outfielder Sarah Remillard (Grafton, MA) and Vilchez aboard with walks against complete-game loser Hannah Adams (1-1), SanGiovanni dropped a potential sacrifice bunt that was thrown past first base, and with SanGiovanni heading to third, the ensuing throw from the outfield skidded through the infield and allowed SanGiovanni to cross the plate behind Remillard and Vilchez.

Limited to five hits in two opening losses Sunday, Eastern pounced early against CMS when the top four batters in the bottom of the first reached safely, with leadoff hitter Emma Marelli (Waterford) singling and later scoring on a bases-loaded walk to SanGiovanni and Remillard racing home on junior second baseman Maddi Sauve's (Mansfield) sacrifice fly.

Boone (1-1) recorded the first save of her career with two innings of relief in the first game and the first win in her career as a starter against Dickinson. In two appearances on the day, Boone allowed two runs, spacing five hits and two walks over six innings, Vilchez (1-1) was charged with two runs on nine hits against CMS before giving way to Boone with the Warriors leading by a score of 5-2 heading into the top of the sixth.

Eastern followed its fast start against CMS with an avalanche of runs in the top of the first against Dickinson (0-4), when the first eight batters reached safely with three hits, two walks, two hit batters and an error. The Warriors sent 11 batters to the plate and scored seven runs and later added eight more runs in their final two bats.

Eastern totaled 14 hits (12 singles) against three Dickinson pitchers. Nine different players contributed at least one hit, nine scored at least one run and nine drove in at least one run. The top four hitters in the lineup -- Marelli, Remillard, Vilchez and SanGiovanni – combined for eight hits and nine RBI and scored eight runs.

Making her first appearance of the year, senior righty Emma Sands (Danbury) pitched a a hitless final inning with two strikeouts.

In two games on the day, Vilchez was 5-for-6 with three RBI and two runs; Remillard 3-for-5 with two walks, five runs and an RBI;  and Marelli 3-for-7 with four runs, two RBI and a walk. Sophomore catcher Maddy Bowen (Hudson, NH), SanGiovanni and junior first baseman Maggie Rubeck (Easthampton, MA) all contributed two hits.

Sophomore Lily Kenefick (Southington), and first-year players Julia Boya (Coventry) and Madison Pajak (Southwick, MA) were all credited with their first career hits on the day. In the second inning against Dickinson, SanGiovanni was also hit by a pitch for the 74^th time in her career, which moved her to within seven of breaking the NCAA  Division III record of 80 set by Amanda Clark of the University of Redlands from 2011-14.

On Wednesday at Tucson, Eastern faces Whittier College at noon and Franklin & Marshall College at 2 p.m.