May 2, 2009
Box Score - Salve Regina / Box Score - Game One WNEC / Box Score - Game Two WNEC
BEVERLY, Mass. - Endicott College captured its seventh consecutive The Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship and has claimed the automatic qualifier for the upcoming NCAA Tournament by winning three games on Saturday in Beverly, Mass. The Gulls (37-7) defeated Salve Regina University (25-19-1) in game one of the day, 5-0, and then swept a pair of games from Western New England College (29-14), 4-3 and 5-4, to take the TCCC crown. Endicott's Jenna Bortolotti (Milton, Mass.) picked up the wins in all three games as she faced 87 of a possible 91 batters on the day while giving up only seven runs in 21 innings.
Bortolotti pitched her best game of the day against the Seahawks as she went seven innings and gave up only one-hit while striking out five by improving to 18-3. The Gulls received a majority of their offense from the TCCC Player of the Year Merry MacDonald (Braintree, Mass.) and Meghan Sargent (Salisbury, Mass.) who each went 2-for-3 with an RBI in the game. Katherine McGann (Topsfield, Mass.) also went 2-for-3 and drove in a pair of RBI.
Western New England College was the only team in the TCCC to have beaten the Gulls this season as the Golden Bears forced Endicott to play in the 10:00 a.m. game by defeating the Gulls 7-5 on Thursday. The first game between the two would start in a similar fashion as Sara Barnes (Berkley, Mass.) homered to the opposite field to give WNEC the early 1-0 advantage.
The Gulls would tie the game in the fifth on an RBI single by Casey Shanley (Billerica, Mass.) that glanced off the third baseman and into leftfield to score pinch-runner Christine Calligan (Norwood, Mass.). The tie score would be short lived as the Golden Bears scored twice in the top of the sixth for a 3-1 lead. Lauren Arsenault (Fitchburg, Mass.) scored on a throwing error by Sargent and Trish Breault (Millville, Mass.) scored on the next play with an RBI single by Kate Post (Bridgewater, Mass.).
Facing elimination, the Gulls were able to scrape together three runs in their half of the sixth inning. A leadoff single by Sargent was followed by a Hayley Hovhanessian (Farmington, Conn.) walk to start the inning. Sarah Spaziano (Norton, Mass.) sacrificed the runners into scoring position and the Gulls pushed their first run across on an Ashley Wright (Merrimack, N.H.) fielder's choice. On the play, Sargent was caught in a rundown and on her final break for home, the ball caromed away from the plate and the senior catcher scored to make it a 3-2 game with Hovhanessian and Wright still in scoring position. One out later, Megan Downey (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) came to bat with two down in the inning and hit a groundball past the pitcher's mound towards second base. Downey lunged to beat out the throw and in the process, drove in the game-tying and go-ahead runs for the Gulls.
Bortolotti came out in the top of the seventh and slammed the door shut on the Golden Bears to win her second game of the day. She went seven innings, giving up six hits and three runs (two earned) while striking out five and walking five. The Gulls only mustered five hits in the game as Shanley, Sargent, Hovhanessian, McGann, and Downey each had hits in the ballgame. Downey drove in a pair while Casey Shanley drove in another run.
Vic Lospinuso (West Islip, N.Y.) took the loss for WNEC by allowing a pair of inherited runners to score and giving up the go-ahead run. Breault led the Golden Bears going 2-for-2 with a run scored while Post, Christina Farese (Marlborough, Mass.), Barnes and Arsenault each added a hit.
In the deciding game for the TCCC Championship, WNEC would again jump out to an early lead, scoring four runs in the top of the third to take a 4-0 advantage. After getting the first out of the inning, Bortolotti gave up a single to Breault who reached third on a bad throw by MacDonald that was not fielded by Shanley, resulting in a first and third. Bortolotti's counterpart, Sarah Lempicki (Plantsville, Conn.), drove in the first run of the inning as she blasted a ground ball off the pitcher's leg and allowed Breault to score. Brittany DeGennaro (Orange, Conn.) worked a walk and Jackie Collier (Swampscott, Mass.) entered the game to replace Bortolotti who had thrown 16.1 innings so far that day. Collier was ineffective however as she got the first batter she faced to pop out to Sargent but the senior pitcher then got wild and walked in three-straight runs - prompting Mark Veilleux to go back to Bortolotti - who forced a popout to Sarah Spaziano.
Endicott began to chip away in the fourth when Sarah Spaziano had a two-RBI single to right-centerfield to score Sargent and Hovhanessian. The Gulls added another in the fifth as Jenna Lazar laced an RBI single to left field and now trailed only 4-3.
Bortolotti downed the Golden Bears 1-2-3 in the top of the sixth and the Gulls finally pulled ahead in the Championship game. Spaziano doubled to start the inning and then came around to score on an Ashley Wright double. The ball was mishandled in the outfield and Wright scooted over to third base with score tied 4-4. McGann then laid down a perfect suicide squeeze to score Wright and give the Gulls the 5-4 edge.
Jenna Bortolotti wrapped up her day by closing out the game and helping the Gulls clinch their seventh straight TCCC title. With the win, Bortolotti improved to 20-3 while going 6.2 innings and giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits. Spaziano led the offense with a 2-for-3 effort and two RBI and a run scored while McGann went 2-for-2 with an RBI.
Lempicki suffered the setback for the Golden Bears and dropping to 7-5 while going six innings and giving up five runs on eight hits. Trish Breault wrapped up her day going 4-for-5 in the two games while Lempicki, Barnes, Rachel Wywra (Methuen, Mass.), and Arsenault each picked up an RBI for WNEC.
Endicott has captured an automatic-bid into the NCAA Tournament and will find out where they will be playing on Monday morning at 11:00 a.m. The Gulls are hosting this year's Regional Site for the NCAA Division III Softball Tournament and will hope to play their first round games in the comfortable confines of their softball stadium. WNEC hopes to receive an at-large bid in the upcoming tournament with their 29-14 record.
