NORTH DARTMOUTH, Mass. – Morgan Bolduk fired a one-hitter and the No. 3 Eastern Connecticut State University Warriors received home runs from Brooke Matyasovksy and Julia SanGiovanni to roll to an 8-0 (6 inning) win over the No. 4 University of Southern Maine Huskies in the first day of the 2019 Little East Conference Softball Championship Thursday afternoon at UMass Dartmouth. 

            With the win, Eastern Connecticut improves to 26-11 and will face No. 5 UMass Boston on Friday (12:00 pm).  Southern Maine falls to 21-17 and will face top-seeded UMass Dartmouth tomorrow (10:00 am). The Huskies need a win to stay alive in the six-team double-elimination tournament. 

            Bolduk was dominant for Eastern Connecticut pitching a complete game shut out and striking out nine Huskies. Bolduk received more than enough run support from SanGiovanni and Matyasovsky as part of a seven-hit attack for thet Warriors.  SanGiovanni gave the Warriors an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second blasting her fourth home run of the season over the left field fence. 

            EastConn led 2-0 after the third, scoring an unearned run, to capitalize on a lead-off double down the left field line from Alexis Tyrrell, but did the bulk of its damage with a five-run bottom of the fourth that included a three-run shot over center field from Matyasovsky. Matyasovsky finished with four RBI in the game, adding a squeeze-bunt RBI in the third. 

            Bolduk improved to 12-1 on the season with the win, and did not allow a USM hit after surrendering a two-out single to Southern Maine senior Brooke Cross (Saco, Maine/Thornton Academy) in the first.  USM freshman Ashley Alward (Cornville, Maine/Skowhegan) absorbed the loss, allowing five earned runs on five hits and a two walks in 3.1 innings. She struck out four.  Junior Madison Greene (Moultonborough, N.H.) allowed three earned runs on two hits and five walks in the final 1.2 innings.  

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