Gulls soar past Hawks
March 31, 2009
Box Score - Game One / Box Score - Game Two
BRISTOL, R.I. - The Endicott College softball team remains undefeated in The Commonwealth Coast Conference with a pair of wins over Roger Williams University, taking both games by scores of 4-0 and 5-2 in eight innings. The Gulls improve to 11-3 overall and 4-0 in the TCCC while the Hawks drop to 10-8 and 2-4 in the conference.
Pitching on both sides was strong early on in the first game, with both teams managing only three hits total over the first three innings. Endicott finally struck first in the top of the fourth when Merry MacDonald (Braintree, Mass.) led off the inning with a walk, then stole second. She scored on the next at-bat when Meghan Sargent (Salisbury, Mass.) singled up the middle to bring her in.
The Gulls would add three more in the top of the fifth, getting runs from Hayley Hovhanessian (Merrimack, N.H.), Megan Downey (Ballston Lake, N.Y.), and Jenna Lazar (Milton, Mass.) to take a comfortable 4-0 lead towards the win.
Jenna Bortolotti (Milton, Mass.) tossed a complete game shutout, allowing only three hits and two walks in the game. MacDonald finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run.
Jaclyn Doolin (Miller Place, N.Y.) suffered the loss, giving up all four runs in the game in seven innings. Erica Castro (Medford, N.Y.), Kerry Burke (Old Saybrook, Conn.) and Renee Bilotti (Bristol, R.I.) each had a hit for the Hawks in the game.
In the second game, Alexandra Sera (Newton, Mass.) and Jackie Collier (Swampscott, Mass.) were locked in a pitcher's duel throughout most of the game. Though the Gulls were able to get to Sera for a run in the third, Sera was able to hold Endicott to only three hits through the fourth to seventh innings.
Collier, on the other hand, had the Hawks' number for six innings, keeping Roger Williams scoreless while holding on to the scant 1-0 lead. The tide turned in the bottom of the seventh when Christine Bean (Southampton, Mass.) led off the inning with a walk. After Bilotti sacrificed her over to second and Jessie Lauze (Hopkinton, Mass.) singled her over to third, Bean sent the game to extra innings, scoring on a line-drive sacrifice fly by Sarah Grill (Watervliet, N.Y.).
In the eighth inning, the Gulls took advantage of a couple of miscues by Roger Williams to regain the lead, with MacDonald coming in on a throwing error and Sargent scoring on a passed ball. By the end of the frame, Endicott had plated four runners and held a 5-1 advantage.
The Hawks were able to get one run in the bottom of the eighth, with Castro scoring on what appeared to be a potential base hit by Samantha Teves (Somerset, Mass.). Teves would be thrown out at first from right field on a bang-bang play for the second out of the inning, before a pop-up to first ended the game.
Collier pitched all eight innings for the win, allowing the two runs on six hits and three walks. Sarah Spaziano (Norton, Mass.) finished 3-for-4 with an RBI.
Sera took the loss, charged with five runs (one earned) in eight innings of work. Bilotti was 2-for-2 while Grill and Teves each had an RBI.
Endicott returns to action on Thursday for a non-conference double-header at Wheaton College scheduled for 3:00 p.m. The Hawks travel to UMass-Dartmouth on Thursday for a 3:00 p.m. game.