Gulls Drop Two in Season Opener at Dot Richardson Spring Games

CLERMONT, Fla. – The Endicott softball opened up the 2015 season with a matchup against regional foe, Bowdoin on Sunday afternoon at the Dot Richardson Spring Games. Despite a strong sixth inning for the Blue and Green the Polar Bears pulled away to claim the 9-6 victory. In the following game the Gulls battled with Wisconsin-Stout and despite a comeback the Blue Devils pulled away for the 5-4 triumph.

Endicott sits at 0-2 at the end of day one of the Dot Richardson Spring Games and will hit the field tomorrow for a 3:00 p.m. matchup with Trinity and a 7:00 p.m. game with Smith.

Game One: Endicott 6, Bowdoin 9

The Polar Bears started the opening inning with a pair of runs to take the early 2-0 lead. The lead would not last for long as the Gulls posted a strong top of the second as junior Sam DiBella (Danvers, Mass.) cranked the first double of the season with sophomore Lindsee Allienello (East Providence, R.I.) on base to send her home to head into the third inning with a 2-1 score.

With junior pitcher Courtney Blake (East Islip, N.Y.) controlling the circle the Polar Bears would not score again until the bottom of the fourth as the NESCAC foe put up three runs to take the 5-1 lead. After a scoreless fifth inning, the Blue and Green put up their heavy hitters to post their strongest inning of the game.

With junior Emily Hoffman (Malden, Mass.) and sophomore Hannah Graney (Acton, Mass.) on base, sophomore Julia McNeill (Hauppauge, N.Y.) stepped up to the plate and ripped a double to send Hoffman and Graney around the bases for a 5-3 score. With McNeill sitting on second, senior Jess Linden (Stratford, Conn.) slapped a double to center field to send McNeill across home plate to make it a one run game.

Down by one, junior Jamie Corda (Higganum, Conn.) cranked the squads third double of the inning to send sophomore Chrissy Gikas (Danvers, Mass.) home for the game-tying run for a 5-5 score.

Endicott would go on to score one more run but the Polar Bears battled with four more runs in the final innings to secure the 9-6 win.

Game Two: Endicott 4, Wisconsin-Stout 5

Game two was a pitching battle between senior Meg Donegan (Atkinson, N.H.) and junior Tori Workman (Prior Lake, Minn.) for the Blue Devils. Donegan hurled five innings recording three strikeouts while freshman Mikaela Mallozzi (Shelton, Conn.) made her debut in the circle for the final two innings. Stout tallied the first two runs of the game the first being in the top of the second and then another in the top of the fourth.

The Blue and Green battled back with offensive efforts in the bottom of the sixth scoring three runs to take a 4-2 lead highlighted by three consecutive doubles for the Gulls. McNeil started the rally as she doubled to send freshman Cassie Beauchemin (Lincoln, R.I.) home. Graney followed with her second hit and RBI of the day as she doubled McNeill home. Sophomore newcomer Allienello stepped up to the plate for the final RBI of the inning as she doubled to left field to bring Graney around the bases for the 4-2 lead.

The lead would not last for long as the Blue Devils took advantage of a couple errors by the Blue and Green in the top of the seventh to take the eventual 5-4 victory.