Gulls Advance to Championship Round with Comeback Win

BEVERLY, Mass. – Endicott trailed 4-0 after the second inning but came back to grab a 6-5 victory over Western New England in their Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) Softball Tournament elimination game.

Top-seeded Endicott (20-19) will advance to the championship round, where they will have to beat #2 Roger Williams twice to claim their tenth title in the last eleven years. The Golden Bears bow out of the tournament with a record of 26-18.

Endicott junior second baseman Jesse Bilafer (Concord, Mass.) sparked the comeback with a two-run home run in the third inning which scored freshman outfielder Jamie Corda (Higganum, Conn.) and cut the Gulls deficit in half.

The Blue and Green would score their other four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, taking the lead on a two-run single to center field by designated player Kelly Michael (Ipswich, Mass.). Senior catcher Krista Fales (Melrose, Mass.) had knocked in Alex Moise (North Reading, Mass.) then she and Bilafer, who had singled to center, scored on Michael's ringing single to center.

The big blow from the Golden Bears came on a triple by second baseman Samantha Mulhern (Worcester, Mass.), who crossed the plate on the same play on an overthrow error. Hannah Hill (Malden, Mass.) and Alexis Bukowski (Wallingford, Conn. ) both scored on the play, as each had singled in the inning, with Hill's hit knocking in Katie Eckert (Lee, Mass.), who had led off the inning with a single.

Cameron Sprague (Cifton Park, N.Y.) earned the victory for Endicott, pitching 4.2 innings of relief. Sprague allowed just one run on four hits and collected a strikeout while collecting her fifth victory of the year.

Sophomore Lauren Zambrano (Wallingford, Conn.) fell to 16-6 on the season for the Golden Bears, despite pitching a complete game.