YORK, Pa. - First-year
Emily Trzonkowski made history on Saturday afternoon as Eastern Softball split its MAC Commonwealth opening doubleheader with the York Spartans. In the Eagles 10-0, five inning win in game one, Trzonkowski (4-0) became the seventh Eagle in program history to pitch a no-hitter, throwing just 67 pitches and striking out seven batters in her fourth win of the season.
Trzonkowski joins
Danika Barthol,
Jania Long, Janelle Fair, Alyssa Welsh, Lexi Evelyn, and Kristine Rosko as the only pitcher in program history to ever throw a no-hitter. Barthol threw the last one in 2024, also against York, in a 5-1 win in the 2024 MAC Commonwealth Championship. Long threw the first seven-inning no-hitter in program history against Widener in a 3-1 win back in April 2023.
The first no-hitter came back in 2008, as Kristine Rosso threw a five-inning perfect game against Rosemont with 10 strikeouts in a 16-0 win back in 2008. Janelle Fair completed the feat on March 28, 2012 with six strikeouts in a 19-0 victory over Philadelphia Biblical University in five innings. Alyssa Welsh followed suit on March 21, 2014 with an eight-strikeout performance in a 12-0 triumph over Wilkes. Seven years later, on March 21, 2021, Lexi Evelyn recorded nine punchouts in a 12-0 win over Albright. Long and
Bryn Clifford also threw a combined perfect game against Rosemont last March.
On offense, the Eagles finished with nine hits, scoring at least one run in all five innings. The Eagles scored their first three runs in the first inning.
Mackenzie Laub drove in
Maura Yoos on an RBI fielders choice,
Hailey Burke hit an RBI infield single, and
Morgan Joseph capped off the inning with a bases-loaded walk. The Eagles added runs in the second and third innings on another Laub RBI fielders choice and a RBI groundout from
Ainsley O'Donnell.
The Eagles pushed three more runs across in the fourth inning.
Sydney Ostolaza doubled home Lab, Maki singled home Ostolaza, and Maki later scored on a Joseph stolen base to put the Eagles ahead 8-0. Eastern capped off the scoring in the fifth as Yoos and O'Donnell scored on a York fielding error.
First-year
Becca Taylor finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI, while Joseph finished 2-for-2 with a run scored an RBI. Laub drove in two runs, and O'Donnell, Ostolaza, Burke, and Maki each collected a hit and an RBI.
The Eagles scored the first two runs in game two, but the Spartans answered with five straight runs en route to a 9-6 victory. Eastern cut the lead to 8-6 in the sixth on RBI singles from Taylor and Rebecca Nagle, but a big home run from York's Sara DeFrancesco in the bottom of the sixth helped to stave off a potential Eastern rally.
Sydney Ostolaza hit her second home run of the year as part of her three hits, while Laub and
Maura Yoos each collected a pair of knocks. Taylor drove in two more runs, while Joseph, Maki, and Nagle all had a hit.
Eastern (8-2, 1-1) will be back in action Tuesday for a doubleheader at Swarthmore. First pitch is set for 3:00 pm.
