Seahawks await winner of NEC/AMC contest, face winner Tuesday at Endicott

NEWPORT, R.I. - The Salve Regina University softball team has earned the No. 4 seed in the upcoming The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) Tournament and will face either No. 5 Anna Maria College or No. 8 New England College on Tuesday, April 27 at Endicott College in Beverly, Mass. The game will begin at 2:30 p.m.

The Seahawks (20-12, 15-9 TCCC) split a pair of games with the AMCats this weekend to pull even with them, but earned the higher seed by virtue of a tiebreaker. Because the two teams split their head-to-head meeting, the next tiebreaker is head-to-head against the first-place team, and so forth down the standings. Going down the standings, they were both 1-1 vs. Endicott, 2-0 vs. UNE and 1-1 vs. WNEC. Against No. 6 Curry, Salve Regina was 2-0, while AMC was 1-1. As a result, Salve Regina is No. 4 and Anna Maria is No. 5.

Salve Regina was swept by the Pilgrims this season, suffering losses of 4-1 and 3-2 in Henniker back on April 10. Anna Maria, meanwhile, split their series with the Pilgrims this season, suffering an 11-7 loss in the opener before posting an 8-6 win in game two on April 18. Monday's matchup between AMC and NEC will take place in Paxton, Mass.

Six of Salve Regina's top seven hitters this season were freshman, led by Jen Cruver (North Haven, Conn.), who hit at a .371 clip. Deanna Ciccarelli (Paramus, N.J.) was next at .359, followed by sophomore Kristen Parolise (Hamden, Conn.) and freshman Jillian Quintana (Denver, Colo.), who hit .354 and .344, respectively. Quintana led the team in both home runs (six) and RBI (31), while another newcomer, freshman Courtney Fleming (Wethersfield, Conn.) (above), was next with 21 RBI. In the circle, senior and two-time TCCC Pitcher of the Year Sarah Jakiela (Meriden, Conn.) went 19-11 with a 2.35 earned run average (ERA). She struck out 191 batters in 190.1 IP.

In other TCCC playoff action, No. 6 Curry will face No. 7 Nichols in the other play-in game on Monday afternoon in Milton, Mass. The winner of that contest will face No. 3 Western New England College at the University of New England on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. No. 1 Endicott will face the winner of the Anna Maria/NEC vs. Salve Regina winner on Tuesday, and No. 2 University of New England will face the winner of the Nichols/Curry vs. WNEC contest on Tuesday as well.