HISTORIC SEASON COMES TO A CLOSE FOR SOFTBALL IN GNAC CHAMPIONSHIP; SAINTS FALL TO JWU IN TITLE GAME

EAST BOSTON, Mass. - An eight-run offensive outburst in the bottom of the first inning sent Johnson & Wales on its way to its second straight Great Northeast Athletic Conference Tournament Championship Sunday morning with a 12-3 victory over Emmanuel College at East Boston Memorial Park. The Saints historic season comes to an end with the best campaign in program history, finishing with a 26-17 record while the Wildcats improve to 31-10 and now will wait to see who they draw in the NCAA tournament.

The Saints bats were swinging early as Emmanuel opened fire with a two-run shot by rookie catcher Casey Sheehan (Medway, Mass.) over the fence in right center field to take a 2-0 lead, but the Wildcats came back immediately to take control of the game in the bottom half in the inning.

Kristen Solari got the scoring started for JWU with a three-run homer to center field, sending home Meghan Gavin and Brenna DuPerry before Emily Gorecki followed with a solo shot in the next at bat to put the Wildcats up 4-2.

Next, Angelica Reyes knocked in JWU's fifth run of the inning with a single to right center to score Tiffani Semanchik before DuPerry came up to blast a two-RBI double to left field and score Reyes and Jennifer Corona to push the lead to five. The Wildcats' final run of the inning came on an error by the Emmanuel third baseman to put the score at 8-2 after one.

Johnson & Wales pitcher, Corona shut the Saints out in the top of the second before the Wildcats offense got back to work in the bottom half of the inning. With two outs and two runners on base, Reyes singled to center field to score Semanchik and Gorecki and take a 10-2 lead after two.

Emmanuel came back to put another run on the board in the top half of the fourth inning as senior second baseman Kerrianne Vulpis (East Rockaway, N.Y.) knocked home freshman centerfielder Olivia Burgos (Newington, Conn.) on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt and cut the JWU lead to seven.  

Up 10-3 in the bottom of the fifth, DuPerry knocked out a two-run homerun to seal the walk-off, 12-3 victory and the GNAC title for the Wildcats.

Following Sunday's play, the GNAC announced its 2016 All-Tournament team with Delaney Sylvester and Jill Pulek representing Suffolk, Patti and Mary Sciglimpaglia representing USJ, Jill Kilcoyne (Worcester, Mass.), Catherine Davis (Wethersfield, Conn.) and Sheehan representing Emmanuel, and Corona, Gorecki, Solaria and DuPerry representing JWU with Corona being named the Tournament MVP.

Emmanuel was picked to finish fifth in the GNAC Pre-season Coaches' Poll and their appearance in the GNAC Championship was a program-first. The Saints will return 13 players next season and bid farewell to the senior class of Davis, Vulpis, Marianne Halas (Lynn, Mass.) and Val Kiers (West Warwick, R.I.).