Hartford, Conn. – Junior Molly Rathbun (Hebron,
Conn.) pitched her eighth shutout of the season, clubbed a
two-run homerun, and picked up a save to lead the Eastern
Connecticut State University Warriors to a pair of wins (1/3-0/0)
over the Trinity College Bantams in softball action today at Campus
Field. The Warriors, ranked No. 1 in New England and No. 5 in
the nation, improve to 21-3 overall, while the Bantams drop to 17-9
on the season.
In Game 1, sophomore Caroline Blanchard (Norwich,
Conn.), sophomore Amelia Mostovoy (San Francisco,
Calif.), and senior Nicole Nardella (Beverly,
Mass.) each doubled off Rathbun, and Blanchard added a
sixth inning single, but Trinity was unable to put the hits
together to get the tying run across the plate. Trinity
senior Kristen Anderson (West Haven, Conn.) had
another strong outing on the hill, allowing an unearned run in the
fifth inning. The Bantams threatened in their final at-bat
with a leadoff double by Nardella, but could not capitalize, as the
game ended on a double play. Rathbun escaped today's
scare to improve to a perfect 12-0 on the year.
Eastern Connecticut carried the momentum into Game 2 by taking
advantage of a Trinity mishap in the opening frame, jumping to an
early 1-0 lead. Trinity junior Katherine Poulos
(Wilton, Conn.) and Eastern sophomore Christine
Akcer (Milford, Conn.) matched zeros on the scoreboard the
rest of the way, until the Bantams threatened to tie the game by
putting two runners on base with two outs in the sixth.
Rathbun was summoned from the bullpen to relieve Ackers, who had
allowed just two hits in the game, and she delivered once again
with a clutch strikeout.
In the ensuing inning, Rathbun dealt yet another big blow to
Trinity, when she stepped to the plate with two outs, and connected
for a two-run homerun, giving Eastern a 3-0
lead. Rathbun struck out the side in the bottom of
the seventh to clinch the win for the Warriors with her fourth save
of the season.
Game
1 box score
Game
2 box score
