Softball Plays Tough Vs. No. 9 Eastern Conn. St. & No. 19 Rowan

CLERMONT, Fla. – The Endicott softball team lost a pair of games to nationally ranked Eastern Connecticut State (4-1) and Rowan (3-2) on Tuesday evening at Legends Way Field 2.

GAME ONE: No. 9 Eastern Conn. St. 4, Endicott 1

WP (5-1): Alexis Michon (Montville, Conn.) – 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K
LP (2-1): Maria Hanchuk (South Windsor, Conn.) – 5 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 7 K
SV (1): Alyssa Vilchez (Brampton, Ontario) – 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K

The Warriors raced out to a 4-0 advantage through the first five innings of play and later held off a potential rally from the Gulls in the sixth to improve to 8-2 on the season (four straight wins).

Paige Berdos (Plainville, Mass.) put Endicott on the board in the sixth with a bases loaded RBI groundout to second.

From there, Vilchez worked out of the jam with back-to-back strikeouts looking and closed out the seventh in 1-2-3 fashion.

GAME TWO: No. 19 Rowan, Endicott 2

WP (4-2):  Emily August (Mahwah, N.J.) – 4 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 2 K
LP (0-1): Jaylin Couto (Taunton, Mass.) – 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K
SV (1): Rylee Lutz (Mantua, N.J.) – 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K

Trailing 3-1 with two outs in the bottom of the third, Chrissy Marotto (Southington, Conn.) cut the Gulls' deficit to one with an RBI double to right-center, scoring Berdos from second base.

August escaped further damage in the frame with a groundout to third, while the Profs held off similar game-tying bids in the fourth, fifth, and seventh innings, respectively, to push their record to 9-3 on the year.

The Gulls' fourth and fifth innings featured a runner on second with one out and the seventh presented Rowan with a runner on second with two outs situation.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORES

• Katie Watts (Swampscott, Mass.) went 3-for-6 on the day.
• Taylor Chelak (Westborough, Mass.) collected her first collegiate hit and registered her first career multi-hit game against Eastern Conn. St.
• Eastern Conn. St. is ranked No. 9 in the latest National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) Poll, while Rowan is positioned at No. 19.
• Last week, the Warriors were No. 6 in the country and the Profs were No. 18.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (2-4) returns to action on Thursday, March 17 against Ramapo (1 PM) and North Park (4 PM) in Clermont, Fla. 

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(Photo Credit - David Le '10)