Gulls' Win Streak Halts In Doubleheader Sweep By UNE

BIDDEFORD, Maine – The Endicott softball team fell twice (5-4, 6-5) at the hands of host University of New England Saturday afternoon at Claude Dubois Field to snap the Gulls' eight-game win streak.

GAME 1 – University of New England 5, Endicott 4

Endicott did all of its scoring in the top of the third inning with two outs as four unearned runs crossed the plate.

Junior right fielder Julia McNeill (Smithtown, N.Y.) broke the seal with an RBI single through the left side to score sophomore center fielder Casie Beauchemin (Lincoln, R.I.).

Senior catcher Emily Hoffman (Malden, Mass.) soon followed with a double to left that drove in(senior left fielder Jamie Corda (Higganum, Conn.), McNeill, and sophomore first baseman Margaret Martzolf (Port Saint Lucie, Fla.) to cap the Gulls' scoring in game one.

The Nor'easters got one back in the fourth on an infield single by senior first baseman Abby Lambert (Brockton, Mass.), and pulled to within 4-3 in the sixth as a two-out error opened the door for a pair to come across.

After the attempted tying run was cut down at the plate early in the bottom of the seventh, an intentional walk loaded the bases for senior third baseman Kelly Murphy (Cromwell, Conn.), whose single to the gap in right-center gave the hosts a walk-off win.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• McNeill extended her hit streak to nine games with a 3-for-4 effort (one RBI double) and one run scored in game one as she has one double in each of the Gulls' past four games.
• McNeill tallied three hits in a single game for the second time this season.
• Martzolf extended her hit streak to 10 games and has hit safely in 12 of the Gulls' 15 games this season.
• Hoffman recorded a pair of doubles and drove in three runs. Two doubles in a single game is a career-high for Hoffman that she has matched three times including today, but for the first time this season.
• Three RBIs in a single game is a season-high for Hoffman.
• Senior pitcher Courtney Blake (East Islip, N.Y.) took the setback without conceding an earned run in 6 1/3 innings pitched, but allowed eight hits and issued two walks and nine of the 14 UNE players to reach base in the game came in the final two frames as she moved to 5-4 on the season in the circle.

FOR THE FOES

• Junior pitcher Katelyn Austin (Bethlehem, N.H.) fanned four and scattered nine hits and three walks as she earned her fifth victory of the season (5-1) in the complete-game effort.
• Murphy paced the squad with two of the team's eight hits in the game and recorded two RBIs.

GAME 2 – University of New England 6, Endicott 5

All the scoring in game two came in the third and fourth innings as Endicott plated the first three that was matched by UNE in the bottom of the frame. The Gulls' two runs in the fourth were topped by a three-spot for the Nor'easters later in the inning.

Junior second baseman Chrissy Gikas (Danvers, Mass.) laid down a bunt-single to put the Gulls ahead, 1-0, before an error and a wild pitch helped establish a 3-0 cushion as Endicott left the bases loaded.

Following singles by Nor'easters' junior right fiedler Sydney Helmbrecht (Grand Rapids, Minn.) and senior center fielder Amanda Vallante (Dracut, Mass.), Murphy doubled down the line in left to get one back for the Nor'easters. An error enabled another run to score before a fly-out double-play, but sophomore second baseman Lauren Jones (Barrington, N.H.) registered a run-scoring single to knot things up.

Freshman center fielder Olivia Odermatt (Cheshire, Conn.) notched a lead-off double for Endicott in the fourth, stole third, and scored on the third hit of the contest for sophomore designated player Beauchemin. Two wild pitches in the subsequent at-bat and Beauchemin extended the gap to 5-3.

A bases-loaded walk by freshman left fielder Andrea Gosper (Richmond, R.I.) with one down in the bottom of the fourth pulled UNE closer, and with two away, Jones came through with a two-RBI single into center that knocked in Vallante and Murphy for what proved to be the deciding tallies.

Freshman pitcher Laura Somerville (Suffield, Conn.) took the loss for Endicott in 3 1/3 innings of relief (2-2) as she gave up three runs on two hits, walked four and struck out one when she took over for sophomore starter Mikaela Mallozzi (Shelton, Conn.).

Mallozzi went 2 2/3 innings in the circle and got tagged with three runs (one earned) on eight hits and one walk.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Today's sweep for the Nor'easters ended a seven-game regular-season skid for Big Blue against the Gulls.
• Beauchemin's three hits was a career-high as she also scored a career-high two runs in a single game.
• Odermatt scored a career-high two runs and stole her first career base for the Gulls.

FOR THE FOES

• The Nor'easters used three pitchers in the game as freshman Melissa Sprague (Londonderry, N.H.) got the ball to start game two, but was replaced by freshman Sophie Burnham (Scarborough, Maine) with two outs in the third inning.
• Burnham was the pitcher-of-record for the Nor'easters, working 1 2/3 innings of relief to earn her second win of the season (2-2).
• Lambert picked up her first save of the season in three innings of scoreless ball as she entered to pitch for the hosts and escaped second and third with one out in the fifth to hold the Gulls off the board. After giving up just a walk in the 6th, the UNE defense ensured a clean seventh to preserve the save.
• Helmbrecht and Jones were joined by junior catcher Paige Moore-Haskell (Scarborough, Maine)  and freshman shortstop Caroline Schoenbucher (Barrington, N.H.) with two hits in the game apiece for the offense which left 10 runners on base.
• Jones contributed a game-high three RBIs.

NOTES

• The Gulls are 34-10 all-time and 13-7 on the road at UNE.
• Endicott swept last season's doubleheader (8-0, 4-3) before dropping a 3-1 decision to UNE in the opening round of the CCC Tournament on April 27, 2015 and staved off elimination to advance to the CCC Championship with a 4-0 shutout  over the Nor'easters on May 2, 2015 in the most recent meeting before today.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (9-7, 2-2 CCC) travels to Springfield, Mass. to take on the Golden Bears of Western New England University in a conference doubleheader on Sunday, April 10  beginning at 12:00 p.m. UNE (14-4, 5-1 CCC) will face Roger Williams in Bristol, R.I. in a conference doubleheader on Sunday, April 10 with the first pitch at 12:00 p.m. 

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