Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
CASTLETON, Vt. – The Eastern Connecticut State University softball team recorded a season-high 18 hits to back graduate pitcher Alyssa Vilchez' (Brampton, ON) complete-game six-hitter in the first game, but couldn't complete a comeback from four runs down in the nightcap in splitting a Little East Conference doubleheader with VTSU Castleton Saturday afternoon at Spartan Field.

In the first game, Vilchez had three hits and drove in three runs and sophomore shortstop Emma Marelli (Waterford) reached five times  with three hits and two walks and scored four runs from the leadoff position in a 12-3 victory that extended Eastern's (13-12-1, 5-3 LEC) winning streak to seven straight in the series with Castleton (11-13, 2-6 LEC).

For the third time in four LEC doubleheaders this year, the Warriors failed to complete a sweep with a second-game loss. In the second game, Eastern tied the game, 6-6, with four runs in the fourth on back-to-back two-out, two-run singles from Vilchez and graduate third baseman Julia SanGiovanni (East Haven) but promptly allowed two go-ahead runs in the bottom of the inning on consecutive extra-base hits with one out and an infield ground ball.

On the day, Marelli was 6-for-7 with two walks, five runs and three RBI; Vilchez had five hits, drove in six runs and scored three, and senior outfielder Sarah Remillard (Grafton, MA) had four hits and drove in two runs. SanGiovanni had three hits and drove in four runs that moved her to within four of breaking the program's career RBI record of 157. She also extended her NCAA record for hit-by-pitch to 84 after being hit three times.

Eastern hosts Western Connecticut State University in a conference doubleheader Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. on Senior Day.