Seahawks beaten by AMCATS, 4-2

BEVERLY, Mass. - Junior Holly Renna (Charlton, Mass.) tossed a complete-game, three-hitter to lead No. 5 seed Anna Maria College to a 4-2 win over No. 4 seed Salve Regina University in The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) softball tournament action Thursday afternoon at Endicott College.

Junior Allyssa Boykin (Worcester, Mass.) and sophomore Samantha Putis (Charlton, Mass.) each belted solo home runs for the AMCats, who improved to 21-19 on the season and advance to face top-seed Endicott in the winner's bracket. Freshman Jillian Quintana (Denver, Colo.) had a pair of hits for the Seahawks, who dropped their second-straight contest to AMC and slipped to 20-13 on the season. They will play No. 3 Western New England in an elimination contest on Friday at Endicott.

The AMCats broke a scoreless tie in the fourth when sophomore Becky Mercurio (Worcester, Mass.) laced a one-out singled and scored on an illegal pitch by SRU senior starting pitcher Sarah Jakiela (Meriden, Conn.). Ruggeri followed with a single to left that plated junior Sarah Boyda (Oxford, Mass.) and made it 2-0. Home runs by Boykin in the fifth and Putis in the seventh pushed the lead to 4-0 at the end of four-and-a-half innings of play.

In the seventh, the Seahawks cut the lead in half when a throwing error by shortstop Becky Mercurio allowed senior Kristen Danubio (Glen Rock, N.J.) and freshman Courtney Fleming (Wethersfield, Conn.) to score. With junior Christina Walsh (Putnam Valley, N.Y.) on first and two down, sophomore Kristen Parolise (Hamden, Conn.) came to the plate as the tying run, but flied to right to end the contest.

Renna walked four batters and struck out three en route to her 18th win of the season. Jakiela, meanwhile, allowed nine hits and four runs. She walked three and struck out four in seven innings of work.

Courtesy of Endicott sports information