Softball Earns Hard-Fought Split Against Hartford

BEVERLY, Mass. – The Endicott softball split its conference doubleheader against Hartford (6-9, 8-7) on Sunday evening at the Softball Complex.

GAME ONE: Hartford 9, Endicott 6

WP (5-1): Alexis Sealey (Pleasant Hills, Calif.) – 5 IP, 10 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 3 K
LP (5-5): Jaylin Couto (Taunton, Mass.) – 2.1 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

Hartford raced out to an 8-2 lead after three innings of play before the Gulls chipped away at a potential rally.

Endicott's comeback bid fell short in the late innings, however, despite solo homers from Paige Berdos (Plainville, Mass.) and Elyse Saccoccio (Coventry, R.I.) in the fifth and sixth.

Mia Mitchell (Medford, Mass.) also highlighted the offense with a 3-for-5 day at the plate, including one run scored and an RBI knock in the fourth (8-3 deficit).

GAME TWO: Endicott 8, Hartford 7 (8 inn.)

WP (6-3): Analise Grady (Reading, Mass.) – 5.2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
LP (7-8): Carly Mayhood (Newton, N.J.) – 2.2 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

The Gulls flipped the script in game two, completing two comebacks to land a split with Hartford.

Trailing 5-3 in the seventh inning, Mitchell put together a leadoff at-bat for the ages to spark the offense.

Mitchell took strike one on the outer half, then got ahead in the count, 2-1, thanks to two good leaves.

The sophomore shortstop fouled off the next nine pitches she saw before going down in the zone to rip a hard-hit groundball through the left side, capping the 13-pitch at-bat.

A few Hartford miscues allowed Mitchell to score from third to make it 5-4, while Berdos tied up the game with an RBI single up the middle.

The Hawks didn't go away quietly in the eighth, as the visitors scored two runs on singles to jump out in front again, 7-5.

In the bottom half, the Gulls took advantage of another Hartford error with the bases loaded before Chloe Shapleigh (Lynnfield, Mass.) walked it off with a two-run single up the middle.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORES

• Endicott is 1-3 all-time against Hartford.
• Mitchell went 5-for-9 with three runs scored in the doubleheader (reached base safely in nine straight games; five-game hitting streak).
• Shapleigh leads the team with eight multi-RBI games this season (5 – 2, 3 – 1).
• Berdos ranks first on the team with a 13-game active on-base streak.

WHAT'S NEXT

Endicott (18-12, 12-3 CNE) hosts Babson on Tuesday, April 29 at 4 PM. Hartford (18-16-1, 8-7-1 CNE) welcomes WPI to its campus next Tuesday at 4 PM. 

For the latest on Endicott Athletics, follow the Gulls on social media on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

(Photo Credit - Bradley Griffin '28)