Box Score

BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott College’s \#Jenna Bortolotti\# (Milton, Mass.) tossed seven innings of two-hit softball in leading the Gulls to a 2-0 victory over the University of New England in The Commonwealth Coast Conference Playoff action on Friday night. \#Sarah Spaziano\# (Norton, Mass.) also added a solo homerun for the Gulls (27-10-1), who move on to their 11th-straight TCCC Championship game. The Nor’easters (25-13) will take on Western New England College at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Both Bortolotti and UNE’s Erin Lyons (Salem, N.H.) were extremely effective on the rubber on Friday night. Bortolotti did not give up a hit until the top of the fourth inning while Lyons scattered three hits through the first four innings of play.

Lyons retired the first batter she faced in the bottom of the fifth before Spaziano stepped to the plate and blasted her third homerun of the season just over the fence in centerfield and barely out of the grasp of Maegan Johnson (Standish, Maine), who nearly robbed the homerun. The Gulls added an insurance run in the sixth on a \#Nicole Devlin\# (Dudley, Mass.) RBI single that plated \#Merry MacDonald\# (Braintree, Mass.).

Leading 2-0 headed into the seventh, Bortolotti promptly retired the side on a flyout and a pair of groundouts to second base to nab her 19th victory of the season. The junior, and 2010 TCCC Pitcher of the Year, only faced three batters over the minimum, giving up two singles and one walk that came in the fourth inning, while striking out five.

The Gulls only registered six hits led by Spaziano’s 2-for-2 day and solo homerun. MacDonald went 1-for-2 with a run scored while Devlin was 1-for-3 with an RBI. \#Megan Downey\# (Ballston Lake, N.Y.), and \#Ashley Wright\# (Merrimack, N.H.) registered the other two hits for the Gulls.

The Nor’Easters received hits from Jenn Waldecker (Hooksett, N.H.) and Casey Brigham (New London, Conn.) while Johnson was the only other UNE player to reach base, drawing a walk. Erin Lyons was the tough-luck loser, tossing six innings and giving up only six hits and two runs (one earned) while striking out four.

The Blue and Green return to action on Saturday afternoon when the Gulls host a possible three games. No. 2 seeded UNE will face Western New England at 10:00 a.m. with Gulls taking on the winner of that game in the Championship game at 12:00 p.m. Since the tournament is double elimination, if the Gulls fall in that game at noon, a second matchup will take place at 2:00 p.m. between the two teams left to determine a champion and grab the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.