Warriors blank Castleton in Little East tournament
May 6—MANSFIELD — Alexis Michon struck out 10 batters and combined with Morgan Bolduk on the 16th shutout of the season for 2-time defending tournament champion and No. 1 seed Eastern Connecticut State University (35-4) in a 6-0 victory over No. 4 Castleton University in its opening- round game of the Little East Conference tournament on Thursday afternoon at Clyde Washburne Field.
Michon recorded 10 of her 13 outs on strikeouts, including two that got her out of a bases- loaded jam in the first inning before her teammates went to work on offense.
Brooke Matyasvosky hit her 14th home run of the season and the 39th of her career for the Warriors when her 2-run shot plated teammate Cassie Woods in the bottom of the first.
Matyasvosky then added a 2- run single in the second inning to give ECSU a 4-0 lead.
Julia SanGiovanni and Bolduk hit back- to- back home runs to open the fifth inning to wrap up the scoring for the Warriors.
With the win, Eastern advanced to face No. 3 seed UMass-Dartmouth in a winner's bracket game this morning at 11 a. m.
The Corsairs (32-8-1) defeated No. 2 seed Southern Maine, 11-6, in Thursday's second game.
This morning's winner moves into the championship round on Saturday at 1 p. m. needing just one victory to clinch the Little East tourney championship that also wraps up an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament.
If necessary, a decisive second game would follow at 3: 30 p. m. on Saturday afternoon.
This morning's loser will face the winner of today's 1:30 p.m. game between Southern Maine and Castleton University at 4 p. m. this afternoon.
