BEVERLY, Mass. — The Endicott softball team swept Western New England, 8-5 and 5-4, in Sunday afternoon Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) doubleheader action at the Endicott softball field.
GAME ONE: Endicott 8, Western New England 5
WP (6-2): Jaylin Couto (Taunton, Mass.) — 7.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 9 K
LP (6-5): Riley Kane (Prospect, Conn.) — 3.1 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K
The Gulls got the bats going early with Chloe Shapleigh's (Lynnfield, Mass.) first-inning solo shot to center field and a run-scoring ground ball off the bat of Mia Mitchell (Medford, Mass.).
After WNE got a run back in the second, Mitchell drove in Shapleigh with a bloop to right to give the Gulls a 3-1 lead in the third.
The Golden Bears once again closed the gap in the top of the fourth with a solo homer to left, but the Blue and Green responded with a five spot in the bottom half. The rally was highlighted by a Katie Watts (Swampscott, Mass.) RBI double to left and a Christina Nowicki (Chelsea, Mass.) two-run single to left which made it 8-2 Gulls.
A solid seven-inning (complete game) day in the circle for Couto guided the Gulls to the eventual 8-5 victory in the first contest of the day.
GAME TWO: Endicott 5, Western New England 4 (8 inn.)
WP (2-0): Analise Grady (Reading, Mass.) — 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
LP (2-1): Evelyn Picone (Mamaroneck, N.Y.) — 1.2 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 K
Game two began very similarly to game one, as Shapleigh blasted her second home run of the day to give the Gulls a 2-0 lead in the first.
The Golden Bears knotted the score with a pair of runs in the top of the third, but Mitchell gave Endicott the lead back with an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the frame.
The score remained 3-2 Gulls for the following several innings, as Kristen Beebe (Brentwood, N.H.) turned in another solid start from the circle in her 5.2 innings of work. However, in the top of the fifth, Kailey Carrano (West Haven, Conn.) took Beebe deep to center field, giving the Golden Bears their first lead of the day at 4-3.
Down to their last out in the seventh, the Gulls had the tying run at second (Shapleigh) with Mitchell at the plate. Mitchell chopped what looked to be a game-ending ground ball to the second baseman, but the ball was misplayed, and thanks to some terrific hustle from both Shapleigh and Mitchell, the Gulls were able to beat out the throws to first base and home plate to tie the game at four.
The game headed into extra innings, and Grady was able to strand the go-ahead ghost runner at third base to end the top of the eighth.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth and the game-winning run on third, Paige Berdos (Plainville, Mass.) blooped a walk-off single into left-center field, scoring Nowicki to secure the sweep.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- This is the first meeting between the two teams since last season's CCC Championship. With the sweep today, Endicott improves to 36-14 in the all-time series.
- In addition to her clutch walk-off, Berdos went a combined 3-for-6 with an RBI and a run scored in the two games.
- Shapleigh went 3-for-4 (two home runs, double) over the two games. She reached base in seven of her eight plate appearances on the doubleheader (three walks, hit-by-pitch).
- Her second home run of the day went on to the baseball field in right field.
- Grady features an ERA of 1.00 and a WHIP of 0.71 through 14.0 innings of work this season.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (15-6, 7-1 CCC) welcomes Wellesley on Wednesday for an afternoon doubleheader (3 / 5 PM). Western New England (14-9, 5-3 CCC) welcomes Springfield for a doubleheader on Tuesday (3 / 5 PM).
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(Photo Credit - Kaeli Talora '25)
