April 30, 2009
BEVERLY, Mass. - Western New England College advanced onto The Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship game by defeating Endicott College, 7-5, on Thursday afternoon in Beverly, Mass. In the earlier game, Salve Regina University (24-18-1) stayed alive in its pursuit to play in the Conference finals with a 3-2 win over Curry College (27-16). The Seahawks and Gulls (34-7) will matchup on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. in Beverly, Mass. to see who faces off against the Golden Bears (29-12) in the Conference championship at 12:00 p.m.
The Seahawks were led by TCCC Pitcher of the Year Sarah Jakiela (Meriden, Conn.) who pitched a complete game, giving up two hits and two runs while striking out 12 Curry College batters. Jakiela was also the difference offensively as she helped her own cause by blasting a two-run homerun in the top of the first inning to give the Seahawks an early 2-0 lead.
Salve Regina added their third run in the top of the next inning when Amaran Garbisch (Ghent, N.Y.) hit an RBI single to left field and lifted the Gulls to a 3-0 advantage.
Curry finally got on the board in the top of the third when Samantha Velezis (Waterbury, Conn.) hit a sacrifice fly that scored Kristen Jackman (Stoughton, Mass.) and dropped the deficit to two runs. Velezis would be responsible for the Colonels second run with an RBI single that scored Jackman again, leaving Curry in a 3-2 hole.
Jakiela would close out the game in the seventh with a 1-2-3 inning, including a pair of strikeouts to improve to 24-15. Janelle Mayo (Worcester, Mass.) suffered the setback for Curry and wraps up the season at 10-3 by going seven innings and giving up three runs on eight hits and striking out five.
Salve Regina moved across town to the campus of Gordon College to take on Nichols College who had defeated Roger Williams University, 3-2, earlier in the day. The Seahawks defeated the Bison 5-2 in the second game to move on and play on Saturday morning.
Game two of the double-header matched up the No. 1-seeded Endicott College against \#2 Western New England College. Endicott would strike first in the bottom of the third when Ashley Wright (Merrimack, N.H.) crushed a two-run homer to left-centerfield and gave the Gulls an early 2-0 edge. Endicott padded their lead to 3-0 when Wright picked up her third RBI of the day by laying down a suicide squeeze bunt that scored Meghan Sargent (Salisbury, Mass.).
The Golden Bears' bats finally woke up in the top of the fifth as the WNEC bats plated five runs in the inning. Sara Barnes (Berkley, Mass.) led off the inning with a double and scored on a RBI single by Lauren Arsenault (Fitchburg, Mass.). Arsenault would come around on an RBI single by Trish Breault (Millville, Mass.). Breault would score on a Sarah Lempicki (Plantsville, Conn.) RBI single, who later scored a dropped fly ball into the outfield, giving WNEC a 5-3 lead.
Endicott wasted no time knotting up the game as Jenna Lazar (Milton, Mass.) worked a one-out walk before Casey Shanley (Billerica, Mass.) tied the game with one swing, belting a two-run homerun to right-centerfield. Those would be the final two runs scored for the next two innings until the top of the eighth when WNEC came to the plate.
Arsenault began the inning with an infield single to shortstop and moved to second when Sarah Spaziano (Norton, Mass.) could not handle the sacrifice attempt by Mallory Householder (Ellington, Conn.), leaving a pair of Golden Bears on base. Breault came to bat and placed a perfect bunt between the first and second basemen that dribbled to the outfield grass and allowed Householder to score from second. An RBI groundout by Lempicki gave WNEC the insurance run it was looking for as the Golden Bears took a 7-5 lead going into the bottom of the eighth.
Unfortunately for the Gulls, Vic Lospinuso (West Islip, N.Y.) was too strong for the Gulls in the bottom of the eighth as the Gulls were retired in order. Lospinuso picked up her ninth win of the season as she came on in the seventh inning to pitch two innings while allowing just two hits and striking out a pair. Endicott's Jackie Collier (Swampscott, Mass.) took the loss for the Gulls as she relieved Jenna Bortolotti (Milton, Mass.) after 5.2 innings and went the final 2.1 while giving up five hits and a pair of unearned runs.
The Gulls were led by a pair of three-hit games as Casey Shanley went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Meghan Sargent went 3-for-4 with a run scored. Ashley Wright finished the game 1-for-3 with three RBI.
WNEC also had a pair of three hit games from Breault (3-for-5 with two RBI) and Arsenault (3-for-4, one RBI, two runs). Lempicki, Brittany DeGennaro (Orange, Conn.) and Sarah Barnes each had two hits in the game.
Endicott will host the final day of the TCCC Tournament as they are the highest seed remaining. The Gulls will face off against Salve Regina at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday with the winner moving on to face Western New England for the Conference championship at noon.
