The duo of Chelsea Botsch and Brooke Lachette was at it again on Sunday afternoon, extending the Wilmington University softball team's shutout streak to 44.2 consecutive innings with a pair of 4-0 victories over Georgian Court at Asbury Field.
The wins are the sixth and seventh consecutive shutouts and the seventh and eighth straight Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference victories for the Wildcats (20-11, 11-5 CACC). Georgian Court (10-24, 9-7 CACC) only mustered two hits in game one and four in game two.
The opener belong to Botsch as she cruised through the Lion lineup, striking out seven consecutive batters at one point, accounting for 12 of 13 outs from the last out of the first through the second out of the sixth. The lone hiccup was a leadoff walk in the fifth inning.
Botsch gave up a leadoff single in the top of first inning, allowed the leadoff walk in the fifth, a one out single in the seventh, and a two out walk in the seventh. She improved to 9-5 on the season with the shutout, picking up a career high 15 strikeouts on the afternoon.
The offense aided Botsch in the first inning as Cambria Ziemba started things off with a one out single. After stealing second, Ziemba came around to score on a fielding error off the bat of Ashley Bennett, giving the Wildcats the quick 1-0 lead.
The Wildcats were at it again in the second inning, starting with a leadoff single from Miranda Pedersen. A one-out error with the bases loaded allowed two runs to come home, putting the Wildcats ahead 3-0.
Ashley Bennett started a third inning rally with a leadoff single to center. Pedersen singled in the inning as well before Michelle Panasiti grounded out to first base, hard enough to allow Kaitlyn Slater to score from third for the 4-0 lead.
Botsch took it from there, striking out the final batter of the game with two runners on, her only jam of the afternoon.
Pedersen went 3-for-3 in the first game while Ziemba, Bennett, and Taylor Rizzotte collected one hit each.
It was Lachette's turn in game two, picking up right where Botsch left off with a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the first. The Lions threatened in the second, getting their leadoff batter to third base with two outs, but Lachette induced a ground out to get out of the jam.
The bats backed Lachette up in the bottom of the second, as she helped herself with an RBI single through the right side, scoring Danielle Bradley who led off the inning with a single and a stolen base. A throwing error allowed pinch runner Monique Rojas to score the games' second run and that was all Lachette needed in the circle.
The offense added two more runs in the fifth inning, all coming with two outs and no one on base. Slater started the rally with a single through the left side before Pedersen chased her home with a double in the gap in left center. Bradley followed with a single to right, allowing Pedersen to score from second.
Lachette finished off the Lions by leaving a runner on third in the sixth and a perfect 1-2-3 inning in the seventh for the 4-0 complete game shutout. The sophomore struck out three batters while allowing four hits to improve to 8-4 on the season.
Bradley batted 3-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored in the nightcap while Lachette batted 2-for-3 with an RBI.
The Wildcats return to action on Tuesday when they head to Philadelphia to take on USciences in another CACC doubleheader. The first pitch of game one is set for 2 p.m.
