BIDDEFORD – After losing early in the Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC) playoffs the past three years, the University of New England softball team ended its 2019 season as CCC runner-ups.

The Nor’easters fell to Endicott 10-0 during the league championship game on May 5 at the EC Softball Complex.

“The season was a success,” said UNE coach Dan Letellier. “Originally, we talked how we wanted to finish in the top four for the conference, and we finished in second … We wanted to win at least the first round of the playoffs, and, this year, we made it all the way to the conference finals.”

During UNE’s CCC tournament run, the Nor’easters snapped Endicott’s 18-game winning streak with a 6-2 win to position themselves as the only team without a loss in the double-elimination tournament. UNE went into the championship round without a loss.

The win over the Gulls gave the Nor’easters a spot in the conference title – and made a season’s worth of grit and perseverance all the more sweet.  

“It was definitely something that we had been working toward all season so it was awesome and really rewarding to be in that championship game,” said senior catcher Avery Alberghini. “Beating the undefeated, No. 1 seed to get into that position was just icing on the cake.”

One aspect UNE relied on to reach the conference final was the leadership of its 10 seniors, said Letellier.

One of those seniors, Sydnee Bessler, faced 22 batters without allowing a hit in the Nor’easters 6-0 shutout of seventh-seeded Gordon College in the tournament opener.

“They really banded together,” Letellier said. “The seniors were all just respectful and welcoming of our younger players, where it made the team that much better. (We) all had that common goal.”

The Nor’easters finished their 2019 season with a record of 26-16, including a 16-3 mark at home. In 2018, UNE finished 17-20.

One of the reasons for UNE’s dominant 2019 campaign was Alberghini. The Vermont native ended the season with a .534 batting average, 41-of-41 on steals and 39 runs scored in 38 games.

Alberghini leaves the UNE program with the most career runs (114) and stolen bases (82) in program history. The senior was also selected as the CCC Softball Player of the Year, UNE’s Female Athlete of the Year and named to the 2019 Google Cloud Academic All-District Division III Softball First Team in District 1.

“It was really important to me that we did well this season – not only because it was my last season but because we really had great potential coming into it,” Alberghini said. “We have not been so successful in the past in the playoffs so getting this far in my last season was awesome.”

Alberghini will leave large shoes to fill, as well as the nine other graduating seniors, but there’s plenty of reason for optimism within the program moving forward.

“We know that we’re probably going to go back to being young next season,” said Letellier. “We have some good, local players coming in as well as some players from New York and Massachusetts … We’ll look to not so much rebuild but we’re going to try to reload and stay status quo.”

— Sports Writer Sienna Barstow can be reached at sbarstow@journaltribune.com or at 780-9018. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @JournalTsports