CLERMONT, Fla. - - The Wilmington University softball team made it six wins in a row as it defeated Minnesota State Moorhead, 10-2, and LIU Post, 1-0, on Thursday night at Hancock Park on day four of its Florida Trip.
A pair of home runs highlighted game one while the nightcap was highlighted by the strong pitching performance of Caitlyn Whiteside against the Pioneers who received national votes in the latest NFCA National Poll. The Wildcats are now 9-5 overall.
Minnesota State Moorhead got on the board first with an unearned run in the bottom of the second before the big bats of the 'Cats came around. Colby Wyatt hit her first homer of the season in the top of the fourth, a two-run shot to give the Wildcats the 2-1 lead. Kaitlyn Slater capped a five-run fifth inning with a grand slam to left, putting the Wildcats in front, 7-1.
Jazmeen Llamas knocked in a run with an RBI single before back-to-back RBI ground outs by Emily Luna and Slater gave the Wildcats a 10-1 lead.
Danielle Bradley went the first 6.2 innings of work to move to 3-2 on the season, striking out five batters while only allowing four hits. She ran into trouble in the bottom of the seventh but Brooklyn Lachette came on and shut the door for the team's fifth straight victory.
The nightcap against east regional foe LIU Post was the opposite type of game for the Wildcats, as there was only four hits combined in the contest and one run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Whiteside set the Pioneers down in order in each of the first four innings before the prefect game was broken up on a single to lead off the fifth. But she was able to leave the runner at third base to leave the inning unscathed.
Becca Stanley started the bottom of the fifth with a leadoff single, and was standing on second base after an error by the left fielder. Jayme Richardson successfully moved her to third base with a sacrifice bunt. Rosa'Lynn Burton reached first on a fielding error and successfully executed a first and third steal to get Stanley home for the game's only run.
LIU Post put runners on first and second with one out in the sixth but Whiteside struck out the next two batters to end the inning. She then started the seventh with a strikeout before inducing a groundout and a foul out to end the game and stretch the winning streak to six straight.
Slater had five RBI in the first game while Burton and Wyatt led the team with two hits each. Burton went 2-for-3 against LIU Post while Stanley picked up the only other hit for the Wildcats.
Whiteside struck out seven batters while only allowing one hit and one walk in the complete game shutout. She is now 5-2 overall with four complete game shutouts.
The Wildcats wrap up their Florida trip with a single game on Friday at the National Training Center. The team will face Hillsdale with the first pitch slated for 1:00 p.m.