DUDLEY, Mass. – The Nichols College softball team dropped a pair of Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) games to Endicott College Monday afternoon at the Nichols Softball Field.
 
Game One: Endicott 1, Nichols 0
Freshman Michaela Hamill (Lynn, Mass.) tossed seven innings of three-hit shutout ball and sophomore Hayley Alduini (Southington, Conn.) drove in the go-ahead run in the seventh for the Gulls.
 
Freshman Alexa Ferris (Holyoke, Mass.) started for the Bison and surrendered eight hits and one run in seven innings of work. She walked one and struck out seven to fall to 9-4.
 
Nichols stranded runners in the second and fourth innings, and two more in the sixth. After the Gulls grabbed a 1-0 lead in their half of the seventh, freshman Jessica Kuelling (Gales Ferry, Conn.) led off the bottom of the seventh with a single. Freshman pinch runner Jessica Sarah (Glocester, R.I.) advanced to second on a wild pitch, but she would end up stranded as the next two batters struck out before the game ended on a tapper back to Hamill.
 
Game Two: Endicott 6, Nichols 3
Senior Christina Drake (Lebanon, N.H.), junior Kendall Meehan (Danvers, Mass.), and Kuelling each recorded two hits and drove in a run for the Bison.
 
Junior Emily Sharpe (South Glens Falls, N.Y.) went 4-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored for Endicott, who saw sophomore Laura Somerville (Suffield, Conn.) pick up her sixth win of the season. She allowed nine hits and two runs in 4.2 innings of work with one strikeouts.
 
Sharpe drove in the first run of the game with a single up the middle as Endicott put up a '3' spot in the first inning. Sharpe's home run to center field in the third extended the lead to 4-0 before her two-run double the following inning made it 6-0.
 
Nichols clawed back into the game with two in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk to Drake and an RBI single from Meehan. Kuelling doubled in freshman Cara Mayhew (Brooklyn, Conn.) in the fifth to make it 6-3. Drake was thrown out at the plate on the play behind Mayhew.
 
Ferris took the loss as she was tagged for three hits and three runs in two innings of work in defeat. She walked three and struck out three.
 
All-Time Series
Today's games marked the 40th and 41st all-time meetings between Nichols College and Endicott College. The Gulls have won 14 of the last 15 meetings and now lead the series, 39-2.
 
Next Games
Nichols (11-13, 4-8 CCC) – Wednesday, April 19 vs Fitchburg St. (DH), 3:30 p.m.
Endicott (13-13, 8-6 CCC) – Tuesday, April 18 vs Thomas (ME) (DH), 3:00 p.m.