BEVERLY, Mass. — The first-seeded Endicott softball team rallied late to overcome a three-run deficit and walk off against fourth-seeded Roger Williams, 4-3 (8 inn.), in the Conference of New England (CNE) Tournament on Wednesday evening.
WP (7-4): Analise Grady (Reading, Mass.) — 4 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K
LP (3-3): Ava Fairbanks (East Greenwich, R.I.) — 2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Trailing 3-0 in the sixth, Gulls' freshman Kyla Story (Salisbury, Mass.) hit a two-out, three-run homer that ricocheted off the top of the left field fence and out, sending the hometown crowd into a frenzy.
Caitlyn Romero (Southport, Conn.) and Dani Lear (Groveland, Mass.) set up the rally with back-to-back singles and some savvy base-running, putting them both into scoring position.
Story followed with her first career homer, ambushing a 2-1 count, middle-middle fastball to write a new chapter into Endicott softball postseason lore.
Grady was lights out the next two innings, as the junior left-hander did not allow a ball in play to leave the infield (2 pop-ups, 4 groundouts).
In the eighth, Romero once again ignited the offense with a leadoff single.
After Caroline Cummings (Trumbull, Conn.) pinch-ran for Romero, Lear and Christina Nowicki (Chelsea, Mass.) laid down back-to-back sacrifice bunts to put the game-winning run at third.
Mia Mitchell (Medford, Mass.) completed the comeback victory when she put a 2-2 pitch in play that was mishandled at short, scoring Cummings and dispatching the dugout into full-on celebration mode at first base.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Endicott is 51-16 all-time against Roger Williams (31-6 at home)
- The Gulls have won five games in a row (4/27-5/7).
- Roger Williams saw its three-game winning streak snapped.
WHAT'S NEXT
Endicott (22-13) hosts Western New England tomorrow in the CNE Semifinals at 2:30 PM.
Roger Williams (23-17) takes on Wentworth in the CNE Quarterfinals tomorrow at 1:30 PM on the campus of Nichols College.
The CNE Tournament features a double-elimination format.