May 3, 2005
Beverly, MA - Salve Regina came to Endicott needing to win two games to stay alive in the CCC tournament and they did just that. Game one was a convincing 11-0 drubbing and game two was a dramatic extra-inning affair that saw the Seahawks complete the sweep.
Two Salve players had particularly memorable days. Senior pitcher/shortstop, Chris Haddad, played all 18 innings, won game one with seven innings of work as the starting pitcher, won game two with 4.2 innings of work as a reliever, and collected five hits on the day. Sophomore Davin Sirpenski hit a home run in each game, had a game-saving catch in eighth inning and the game-winning hit in the 10th inning of game two.
There was not much drama in game one as Haddad held Endicott to just three hits through seven. Jay Boss pitched the last two allowing just one hit. Meanwhile, the Salve bats were hot, collecting 17 for the game. A big four run top of the first set the tone for game one. With one out, Salve got four runs on five singles and one Ian Parkinson walk.
Salve struck for three more in the fourth off Greg Allain who relieved Parkinson. The big blow was Sirpenski's two-run homer. After two more scored in the sixth, Allain gave way to Chris Serrano, who pitched two innings of scoreless relief. John Bedard pitched the eighth and ninth allowing just one run.
Game two started ominously as Salve put up four more in the top of the second off starter, Mike Daggett. The big hit in that frame was Joe Leafe's three-run triple to right center field. The Gulls, however, showed their first signs of life by answering in the bottom of the second with two runs. Brendan Tiani hit a sac-fly to center to score Greg Allain who singled to start the inning. Then with runners on first and third and two outs, Mark Vaughan took off on a delayed steal that drew the throw from the catcher and Steve Vidmosko stole home on the back side of the play.
Each team scored one in the third to make in 5-3. The Gulls fought all the way back and tied in the fourth to take Mike Daggett, who was relieved by Jamie Turner, off the hook. With two outs and no one on, Pat Vincent got hit by a pitch. With two strikes on Gavin Softic, Vincent was running on the pitch. Softic delivered a deep single to right center that scored Vincent and Softic went to second on the play at the plate. Kevin Donahue then doubled in Softic.
Salve made it 7-5 with one run each in the fifth and sixth. Sirpenski hit his second homer of the day in the fifth. Eric Cirella singled and scored an unearned run in the sixth on an infield error.
Endicott closed the gap quickly in the eighth. Erik Fields pinch hit for Brendan Tiani and singled. Jason Newham ran for Fields and Pat Vincent doubled him to third. Softic singled in Newham and sent Vincent all the way to third, setting the stage for Sirpenski's heroics in right field. Kevin Donahue lined a ball deep into the right center gap on which Davin Sirpenski made a diving catch. The result was a sac fly and a tie game. However, if Sirpenski does not make that catch, Softic scores from first, Donahue has at least a double, and the Gulls are ahead and still batting with only one out.
Neither team scored in the ninth. Joe Leafe opened the 10th with a double. After Eric Cirella walked, Steve Tressler bunted the runners up. Jon Trowt came on for Turner and issued an intentional pass to Chris Haddad to set up the double play. However, Sirpenski would not cooperate and lined the game winning single into right field. Trowt got the next two hitters, but the damage was done.
Despite throwing very well in six-plus innings of relief, Jamie Turner suffered the loss. The victory sends Salve to the CCC finals to face Eastern Nazarene tomorrow at 7:00pm in Newport, RI. The Gulls are eliminated from the CCC tournament and, for the first time in three years, will not go to the NCAA regional tournament. Endicott is hoping for its sixth consecutive post-season berth if it is selected by the ECAC tournament committee for the May 18th tournament.
