April 9, 2009
Box Score
BEVERLY, Mass. - In a matchup of two of the top teams in The Commonwealth Coast Conference, Endicott College and Western New England College played to a draw as each team took a game of an important conference double-header on Thursday afternoon. The Golden Bears were able to steal game one, 5-1, but the Gulls responded by taking game two, 9-4. Endicott improves to 18-4 (9-1 TCCC) while Western New England leaves Beverly, Mass. at 15-7 (7-1 TCCC).
In game one, the teams were matched up in a pitcher's duel as Sarah Lempicki (Southington, Conn.) and Jenna Bortolotti (Milton, Mass.) stymied batters through the first two innings. Trish Breault (Millville, Mass.) had the lone hit through the first two frames as she led off the game with a double.
The Golden Bears finally broke through in the third inning as Breault followed a Mallory Householder (Ellington, Conn.) single with her second double in as many at-bats, putting a pair of runners in scoring position. After a Kate Post (Bridgewater, Mass.) groundout that did not score a run, Lempicki helped her own cause as she singled off Bortolotti's glove, driving in the game's first run. Brittany DeGennaro (Orange, Conn.) followed with an RBI single, driving in Breault, and giving WNEC the 2-0 edge.
Endicott received its first runner as Sarah Spaziano (Norton, Mass.) led off the bottom half of the third with a walk. Spaziano would make it all the way to third base would go no further as Jenna Lazar (Milton, Mass.) flied out to end the inning.
The Gulls finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth as Meghan Sargent (Salisbury, Mass.) hit a towering homerun to right center field, cutting the Endicott deficit in half with just one swing. That would be as close as the Gulls would get however as the Golden Bears tacked on three more runs in the final two innings, winning game one 5-2.
Lempicki picked up her fifth win of the season by going seven innings and giving up only one run, on one hit, and striking out eight. Trish Breault and Sara Barnes (Berkley, Mass.) each had three hits and an RBI for the Golden Bears. Endicott's Bortolotti suffered only her second defeat of the season, dropping to 9-2, while going seven innings and giving up three earned runs on 10 hits with five strikeouts. Sargent had the lone hit for the Gulls, her solo homerun in the fourth inning.
In game two, the Gulls struck first as Casey Shanley (Billerica, Mass.) homered to left-centerfield in the bottom half of the first, giving the Gulls an early 1-0 lead. Endicott's Jackie Collier (Swampscott, Mass.) gave up only one hit through the first three innings and received plenty of support from her offense in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Megan Downey (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) led off the inning with a single and then was pushed to third following a pair of attempted sacrifices that turned into bunt singles by Jenna Lazar and Shanley. Current NEISCA Player of the Week Merry MacDonald (Braintree, Mass.) stepped to the dish and stroked a two-RBI single into right-center, advancing to second on the throw to the plate. Spaziano would add a two-RBI single several batters later and the Gulls would tack on two more in the inning, giving Endicott a 7-0 lead.
The Golden Bears would not go quietly however as they scored a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. Barnes drove in a run with an RBI double and later scored on a Lauren Arsenault (Fitchburg, Mass.) RBI single.
The Gulls responded in their half of the inning with a pair of their own and that would be all Collier would need to secure the victory, 9-4. Collier went seven innings, picking up her seventh win of the season, while giving up 11 hits and four earned runs with no walks and two strikeouts. MacDonald went 3-for-3 with three RBI while Casey Shanley also added three hits and a pair of RBI herself.
WNEC's Laura Bower (Hudson, Mass.) drops to 5-4 this season while going three innings, giving up seven earned runs on eight hits despite striking out five. Arsenault led the offense going 2-for-3 with two RBI while Breault added two more hits and another RBI.
The Blue and Green return to action on Friday afternoon when they square-off with TCCC opponent Eastern Nazarene beginning at 3:00 p.m. in Quincy, Mass. Western New England will play host to New England College on Saturday morning in a double-header scheduled to start at 11:00 a.m.
