Gulls trample Bison, sweep double-header

April 14, 2009

Box Score - Game One / Box Score - Game Two

BEVERLY, Mass. - The Endicott College softball team swept a TCCC double-header from visiting Nichols College, 4-3 and 11-0, on Tuesday afternoon in Beverly, Mass. The Gulls improve to 22-4 (13-1 TCCC) while the Bison fall to 11-17 (9-7 TCCC). The Gulls received a pair of complete games from its pitching staff including a one-hit shutout from Jackie Collier (Swampscott, Mass.) in game two of the double-dip.

In game one, the Bison came out swinging as Lauren Correia (Seekonk, Mass.) led off the game with a single to left field. After a sacrifice bunt moved her into scoring position, Correia broke for third base and stole the bag as Meghan Sargent's (Salisbury, Mass.) throw sailed into left field, allowing the Bison to jump out to an early 1-0 lead.

Nichols would strike again in the second as they extended their lead to 3-0 on a Savannah Thibault (Marlboro, Mass.) single that would score Ashley Robidoux (Milford, Mass.) and Christina Hebert (Johnston, R.I.). Correia would follow with a single but Endicott's Jenna Bortolotti (Milton, Mass.) forced a Lauren Rozanski (Plainville, Conn.) popup that would end the inning.

Correia's single would be the final hit Bortolotti would allow over the next four innings as the sophomore settled into a groove and kept the Bison at bay while the Gulls mounted their comeback. The Gulls got on the board in their half of the second as Katherine McGann (Topsfield, Mass.) had an RBI bunt single that scored Sarah Spaziano (Norton, Mass.). Endicott received its second run in the third inning as Casey Shanley (Billerica, Mass.) led off the inning with a double over the left fielder's head. Sargent would make up for her gaffe in the first inning as she hit an RBI single up the middle and scored Shanley, cutting the Bison lead to 3-2.

The Gulls would finally knot the game as Jenna Lazar (Milton, Mass.) hammered her first homerun of the season off the scoreboard in leftfield, tying the game at three-all. Bortolotti and Nichols pitcher Lindsay Hassett (Oxford, Mass.) settled into a minor pitching duel as neither pitcher allowed more than one hit in the final 2.5 innings. The Gulls finally broke through as Hassett loaded the bases and walked Ashley Wright, (Merrimack, N.H.) forcing in a run, to end the game at 4-3.

Bortolotti pitched her 11th complete game of the year and picked up her 11th win by going seven-innings of six hit softball and giving up only two earned runs. Hasset suffered the defeat and drops to 6-5 while going 6.2 innings, giving up eight hits and four earned runs.

Endicott was led by Merry MacDonald (Braintree, Mass.) who went 2-for-4 while Lazar, Sargent, McGann, and Wright had an RBI each. Nichols' Lauren Correia led the Bison going 2-for-4 with a run scored while Savannah Thibault drove in two RBI, going 1-for-3 from the dish.

In game two, Endicott wasted no time jumping all over the Bison as the Gulls scored five runs in the first two innings. Shanley scored the lone run for the Gulls in the first inning before the Gulls tacked on four more in the second. In the second, Megan Downey (Ballston Lake, N.Y.) drove in two runs with an RBI triple and then scored as Lazar followed with a triple of her own down the third base line. Shanley would then strike with an RBI single, knocking in Lazar.

That would be all senior Jackie Collier (Swampscott, Mass.) would need as she gave up only one hit over the five innings she would pitch, striking out five. The Gulls would tack on six more runs in the final two innings before the game would come to an end, 11-0.

The Gulls were led by Collier who just missed a no-hitter by giving up a lead-off single to Correia and picked up her ninth win of the season. Endicott received two-RBI each from Wright, Spaziano, and Downey while Lazar, Shanley, Hayley Hovhanessian (Farmington, Conn.), and McGann had an RBI-a-piece.

Correia had the lone hit for the Bison while Kara Buckley (Nashua, N.H.) suffered her fifth loss of the season by going four innings and giving up 10 earned runs on 11 hits.

The Blue and Green return to action on Wednesday when they travel to Paxton, Mass. for a TCCC double-header with the Anna Maria College AMCats at 3:30 p.m. Nichols looks to get back in the win column when they travel to Curry College for a double-header at 3:00 p.m.