Lesley Comeback Falls Short as Gulls Advance in NCAA Softball Regionals

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PROVIDENCE, RI – A seventh-inning comeback from No. 7-seeded Lesley University (29-8) fell short Friday, as No. 3 Endicott’s four-run sixth carried the Gulls to a 4-2 win in NCAA Tournament play at the Dayna A. Bazar Softball Facility.

Endicott starter Jenna Bortolotti (Milton, MA/Milton) carried a no-hitter 6 2/3 innings before back-to-back Lesley hits pull the Lynx to within 4-2 before an out on the base paths dashed the comeback bid.

Lesley’s Emily Mangiaratti (Amherst, MA/Amherst) broke up Bortolotti’s no-hit effort with a double with two outs in the seventh before Jessica Guevara’ (Nantucket, MA/Nantucket) RBI double pulled the Lynx to within two, but Guevara was thrown out a third base to end the game and the Lynx season.

For the Gulls, Jocelyn Russo (Middleton, CT/Mercy) went 2-for-4, and Nicole Devlin (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill) drove in two.  

Both teams saw their first base runners of the game get stranded in the second, and a leadoff walk issued by Knox in the third went for naught after Endicott’s Alexandra Moise popped a bunt to Lesley’s Jenna Fralick (Woburn, MA/Woburn) at third, who fired across the diamond to Nicole Mercurio (Wakefield, MA/Wakefield) covering first base for the double play.

Leadoff walks in the second and fourth led to Lesley base runners getting stranded in scoring position. Rian Powers was left at second in the second, and Chelsea Quackenbush was stranded at third in the fourth after a pair of Lynx ground outs.

Not only had Bortolotti keep Lesley off the board through four, she took a no-hitter into the fifth, when Mercurio reached on a leadoff walk. Bortolotti promptly froze Ashley Cunningham and Sarah Apgar looking before Fralick popped to first to end the inning with Mercurio still at first. Through five full innings, the game’s only hit was Russo’s third-inning single, and the teams were knotted in a scoreless tie.

A one-out Mattie Brett (Waterford, CT/Waterford) single and a Knox wild pitch gave the Gulls a golden opportunity in the sixth. Knox then walked cleanup batter Jennie Lacolla (Stoneham, MA/Stoneham), and Hayley Hovhanessian (Farmington, CT/Farmington) singled to the hole in left. Lesley’s Gabrielle Brixey came up firing, delivering a strike to Molly Sarson at the plate, but Brett slid past the tag to score the game’s first run.

The Gulls got a bit of insurance a batter later on an Ashley Wright (Merrimack, NH/Trinity) squeeze play that scored Lacolla. Two batters later, Nicole Devlin (Dudley, MA/Shepherd Hill) delivered the backbreaker. Her hanging, bloop single to shallow left fell in off of Apgar’s glove to score two, capping a four-run Gulls rally.

Bortolotti disposed of the Lynx in order in the sixth and was within a strike of her no-hitter in the seventh. That’s when things got interesting.

With two outs and a full count on Emily Mangiaratti (Amherst, MA/Amherst), the Lynx pinch hitter wrapped an opposite-field double down the left field line, ending Bortolotti’s no-hit bid. Enter pinch hitter Jessica Guevara (Nantucket, MA/Nantucket), also making her first at-bat of the tournament.

Like Mangiaratti, the Lynx sophomore went opposite field, this to the gap in right center on a ball that spun away from Endicott right fielder Byrne Katz, who entered the game in the seventh for defensive purposes. Alyson Durben (Stow, MA/Nashoba) scored from third and Mangiaratti hopped home from second on a two-run base hit that looked like it would bring the tying run to the plate.

Guevara, though, was gunned down trying to stretch her double into a triple, as Brett’s relay throw easily beat a diving Guevara to third base, keeping Fralick from coming to the plate as the potential tying run and ending the Lynx season at 29-8.

Knox took the loss, allowing four runs, four earned, on five hits, striking out five. The New England Collegiate Conference Pitcher of the Year falls to 13-5.

Bortolotti improves to 18-5 with the win, allowing two earned on two hits, walking four and striking out four.

While Lesley’s season that included a perfect 16-0 record in New England Collegiate Conference play, a fourth straight conference championship and second NCAA Tournament appearance comes to a close, while Endicott awaits the loser of the Eastern Connecticut State and Rhode Island College contest.

Courtesy of Lesley Sports Information