Beverly, Mass. – For the ninth year in-a-row, the Endicott softball team hoisted a conference championship trophy after taking the TCCC title with a 7-2 victory over Western New England on Saturday afternoon. 

 

Endicott’s conference championship, the twelfth in program history, punches the team’s ticket into the NCAA Regional Tournament at a location to be determined by the tournament’s selection committee on Monday, May 9^th at noon.  Endicott improved to 35-6 on the season while Western New England dropped to 27-17.  

 

With the score tied at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Endicott rallied for five runs, including a go-ahead RBI single through the left side by sophomore Nicole Devlin (Dudley, Mass.) and a two-run blast over the left field wall by sophomore third baseman Jocelyn Russo (Middletown, Conn.) to make it 7-2 Endicott.

 

Senior captain and pitcher Jenna Bortolotti (Milton, Mass.) pitched her third complete game of the playoffs, allowing two runs on seven hits with no walks while striking out one batter.  Going into the NCAA Tournament, Bortolotti is Endicott’s best pitcher with a 17-4 record, a 1.59 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 123.1 innings pitched. 

 

The Golden Bears turned to sophomore pitcher Rachelle Fecteau (East Lyme, Conn.) in the championship game who took the loss, dropping to 3-4 on the season.  She hurled six-innings while allowing seven earned runs on eight hits and four walks while striking out two.  Fecteau allowed just two runs in the bottom of the second before Endicott’s five-run outburst in the sixth frame. 

 

At the plate for Western New England, senior catcher Elyse Gauvin (Swansea, Mass.) went 2-for-3 with two RBI.  Gauvin drove in two runs separately on RBI singles in the fourth and sixth innings.  In the fourth inning, the Golden Bears put runners at the corners with two outs when Gauvin found a hole in the left side of the infield to plate a run.  Two innings later, Gauvin had another two-out RBI when she tied the game at 2-2 with a high fly ball that got lost in the sun and bounced on the infield, allowing a runner to score. 

 

Endicott jumped on the board in the bottom of the second with one out when senior outfielders Hayley Hovhanessian (Farmington, Conn.) and Ashley Wright (Merrimack, N.H.) hit back-to-back singles to reach base.  After an infield fly made it two outs, sophomore catcher Krista Fales (Melrose, Mass.) roped a line drive in the left centerfield gap to score both runners.  Fales finished the game 1-for-2 with two RBI and a walk. 

 

In the bottom of the sixth after Devlin’s RBI single to put Endicott up 3-2, the Gulls scored four more times on a wild pitch, a RBI single to left by freshman outfielder Alexandra Moise (North Reading, Mass.), and Russo two-run homerun.  Moise had two hits in the championship game with a run and a RBI. 

 

Western New England reached the TCCC Championship game with a 7-4 win over University of New England behind a strong performance in the circle by junior pitcher Sarah Lempicki (Plantsville, Conn.).  Lempicki went the distance, allowing four runs on eight hits and one walk while striking out four.  She improved to 11-4 with the win.

 

The Golden Bears (27-16) scored all seven of their runs in the second and third innings.  In the second inning senior third baseman Angela Monaco (Monroe, Conn.) singled to left center field to drive home Jeana Longo (Schenectady, N.Y.) from second base.  On the play, the runner on first, Elyse Gauvin, advanced to third base on the throw but when UNE’s catcher attempted to throw out Monaco who was advancing to second base, Gauvin raced home for the second run of the inning. 

 

In the bottom of the third, Western New England exploded for five runs on five hits and an error to go up 7-0.  Junior outfielder Rachel Wyrwa (Methuen, Mass.) knocked a RBI single to right field, Gauvin went up the middle for a RBI, Monaco found open grass in right field to drive home two and sophomore outfielder Laura Madaio (Paxton, Mass.) hit a single through the right side to cap off the scoring in the inning. 

 

The Nor’easters (27-17) got a run back in the top of the fifth when senior Stephanie Podolski (Coventry, Conn.) and junior Marie Mantelli (Thompson, Conn.)  hit back-to-back doubles to make it 7-1 in favor of Western New England. 

 

Two innings later in the top of the seventh, UNE added three more runs on a Mantelli homerun down the left field line that just stayed fair to score Erin Grover (Biddeford, Maine) and Podolski.  The next batter reached on an error to keep the Nor’easters’ hopes alive, but Western New England’s Lempicki got the final out of the inning to move on to the championship game. 

 

UNE’s Erin Lyons (Salem, N.H.) took the loss to fall to 9-8 on the season.  Nor’easters senior pitcher Amber Zablowsky (Rochester, Mass.) came on in relief to go 3 1/3 innings, allowing just one unearned run on six hits with a strikeout.