CCC CHAMPIONSHIP VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS
BEVERLY, Mass. – The top-seeded Endicott softball team earned its 11th Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Championship title in program history behind a perfect game from junior pitcher Maggie Oram (Lexington, Mass.) and 12 hits from eight different student-athletes. The Gulls defeated No. 2 University of New England, 10-0, to secure the title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
Endicott got things started in the bottom of the first inning with an RBI double from Lauren Misiaszek (Londonderry, N.H.) before Hayley Arduini (Southington, Conn.) blasted a two-run homer to left field to give her team a 3-0 advantage.
In the second inning, Arduini once again hit a two-run home run to left field to extend the lead to 5-0. The rest of the Endicott offense contributed four more runs to make it an 8-0 game after two full innings.
The Gulls added one more run in the fourth inning and then shut down the Nor'easters in the top of the fifth with two strikeouts and a pop fly to the shortstop to secure the 10-0 victory.
Oram improved to 15-1 on the season in the circle and struck out seven of the 15 batters she faced. Of her 58 pitches thrown, 47 were strikes.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Nell O'Connor (Harwich, Mass.) was the last Endicott pitcher to throw a perfect game. She pitched all seven innings during a 2-0 win against Curry on April 14, 2013.
- This was also the first perfect game during a CCC Championship clinching contest (based upon available data dating back to 2003).
- Today's win was head coach Katie Bettencourt's 100th career victory.
- The last time Endicott won a CCC Championship was during the 2014 season.
- The Gulls are now 40-12 all-time against UNE.
- Arduini finished the game 2-for-2 at the plate with four RBI, while Misiaszek went 3-for-3 with three RBI.
- All three of Misiaszek's hits were doubles.
- Sydnee Bessler (Everett, Mass.) shifted to 13-8 on the season with the loss in the circle for the Nor'easters. Melissa Sprague (Londonderry, N.H.) pitched the remainder of the game.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (32-5) receives the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Softball Tournament and awaits the NCAA selection show which will be on Monday, May 6 at 1 PM on ncaa.com. UNE (26-16) finishes out its season with the loss.
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(Photo Credit - David Le '10)