BEVERLY, Mass. - The second-seeded Western New England College softball team dropped a pair of heart-breaking 4-3, 5-4 decisions to top-seeded Endicott in the championship round of The Commonwealth Coast Conference (TCCC) Tournament Saturday afternoon (May 2).

The Gulls, who defeated Salve Regina 5-0 in a morning contest, wound up winning three games in claiming their seventh straight conference tournament crown.

Western New England College held a 3-1 lead in its opening game before Endicott rallied with three runs in the sixth.

Sophomore first base player Trish Breault (Millville, MA) led the Golden Bears with a single, double, and run scored.

Freshman third base player Sara Barnes (Berkley, MA) belted a homer to give WNEC a 1-0 lead in the second.

Endicott junior rightfielder Meghan Downey (Ballston Lake, NY) knocked in the tying and winning runs in the sixth with an infield single as the Gulls took advantage of a costly error by the Blue and Gold.

In the championship contest, Western New England College broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the third, but again couldn't maintain the lead.

Endicott tallied two runs in the fourth and a single run in the fifth before scoring twice in the sixth helped in part by another WNEC error.

Sophomore pitcherJenna Bortolotti (Milton, MA) gained the win in raising her record to 20-3.

Breault had another two-hit performance and scored a run.

Western New England College (29-14) will await word on whether its receives an invitation to the ECAC Division III New England Tournament.

Endicott (37-7) earns an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III Championship.