May 11, 2007
BEVERLY, MA - Endicott College fell behind early and couldn't dig its way out of a four run first inning hole as the Gulls fell to top seeded Rhode Island College, 10-3 in an NCAA Tournament second round game on Friday afternoon.
The Anchorwomen took advantage of a four run first inning to advance to the regional semifinals while EC will now have to fight its way through the loser's bracket. Christie Lotti (Waterford, CT/Waterford), the two-time Little East Conference Player of the Year, let things off for RIC with a triple to left field and came around to score on a Justine Burgess (Uxbridge, MA/Uxbridge) single. The Anchorwomen would pick up three more runs, taking advantage of a pair of uncharacteristic fielding errors by the Gulls for the 4-0 lead.
Endicott starter Jenn Elwell (Tewksbury, MA/Shawsheen Tech) settled down holding RIC scoreless over the next three innings but the Anchorwomen blew the game open with a four run fifth inning. A lead off double from Kristyn Alexander (East Wareham, MA) forced EC to go to its bullpen for the first time in the tournament. Senior Robyn Savitske (Hellertown, PA/Saucon Valley) came in to relieve Elwell but struggled surrendering a pair of RBI singles and a two run single by Lotti.
Facing an 8-0 deficit in the bottom of the inning the Gulls pushed three unearned across the plate to extend the game. The Blue and Green got consecutive singles from Sarah Spaziano (Norton, MA/Norton) and Casey Shanley (Billerica, MA/Billerica) to put runners on first and second. Paula McGinn (Lynn, MA/Lynn Classical) then reached on a throwing error to load the bases.
Jenna Lazar (Milton, MA/Milton) drove in EC's first run of the afternoon with her bases loaded walk. All-CCC left fielder Danielle Sargent (Sabattus, ME/Oak Hill) then drove in a pair of runs with a two-out, two RBI single, making it a five run game at 8-3.
Rhode Island College pushed across a pair of insurance runs in the top of the seventh, to seal its program-high 39th victory of the season. Elwell (13-3) was tagged with the loss, allowing five runs, three of which were unearned, on seven hits. Savitske gave up three runs on five hits in one inning, while sophomore Jackie Collier (Swampscott, MA/Bishop Fenwick) threw the final two frames, allowing two runs on four hits.
EC falls to 31-11 on the year and enters the elimination bracket to battle seventh-seeded Emerson College at 10 a.m. on Saturday May 12. The Anchorwomen move on in the winners bracket to face the winner of second-seeded Tufts University vs. third-seeded Wellesley College (4 p.m.) at 2 p.m.
