Softball Swept On Final Day In Florida

MINNEOLA, Fla. – The Endicott softball team lost to Southwestern (Tex.) and Susquehanna on Friday afternoon on its final day of competition at the NTC Spring Games. Endicott dropped the first game of the day to Southwestern, 4-0, and the backend of the doubleheader to Susquehanna, 3-0.

GAME ONE: Southwestern 4, Endicott 0

Chandler Smith (Waco, Texas) earned the win (4-1) as the sophomore starter tossed a complete-game, four-hitter alongside one walk and two strikeouts.

Laura Somerville (Suffield, Conn.) was dealt her first loss (2-1) of the spring on seven innings, eight hits, four runs (all earned), a pair of free passes and one punchout.

In the top of the sixth inning, the Pirates finally broke open the pitcher's duel between Smith and Somerville when Taylor Curtis (Bryan, Texas) notched a run-producing double to right center for a 1-0 lead. Berkeley Bacon (Pearland, Texas) followed with a sacrifice fly to left field, and Southwestern tacked on two more in the seventh to lock up the win.

GAME TWO: Susquehanna 3, Endicott 0

Jamie Fesinstine (Long Valley, N.J.) moved her record to 3-2 overall on the season with a complete-game, three-hit effort in the circle. Fesinstine also walked one, struck out another, and registered four 1-2-3 innings for the River Hawks.

Maggie Oram (Lexington, Mass.) suffered the hard-luck loss (1-2) on six innings pitched, six hits, three runs (one earned), one walk, and two strikeouts.

Susquehanna scored two runs in third off of a fielding error and an RBI ground out to second, both of which went unearned to Oram's line, for a quick 2-0 advantage. The River Hawks also tacked on an insurance run in the fourth via an RBI double to left center by Jackie Gore (Lafayette, N.J.).

Fesinstine neutralized Endicott's bats the rest of the way as the Gulls only saw three runners reach base over the final three frames. Jamie Hopgood (Warwick, R.I.) represented the lone runner in scoring position for Endicott during that span as the sophomore designated player roped one-out double to the warning track in left center in the seventh.

Hopgood was stranded at second, however, despite Margret Martzolf's (Port Saint Lucia, Fla.) eventual two-out walk in the frame that put the tying run at the plate for the Gulls.

NOTES

• Hopgood boasted a .500 (9-for-18) batting average on the spring break trip. She also paced the team in RBIs with six.
• Julia McNeill (Smithtown, N.Y.) led all student-athletes on the roster that had at least 25 at-bats with a .355 batting average (11-for-31) over the 10-game schedule in Florida.
• Somerville was dominant over the course of her three starts for the Gulls going 2-1 on 21 innings pitched alongside 14 strikeouts and a 1.67 earned run average.
• Olivia Odermatt (Cheshire, Conn.) and McNeill tied for the team-high in runs with six.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (4-6) hosts Curry College in a conference doubleheader on Saturday, March 25 at 12 and 2 PM.

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(Photo Credit - Matt Connelly)