A pair of Wilmington University softball players wrapped up the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Weekly Reports with Ashley Bennett being named Player of the Week and Chelsea Botsch being named Pitcher of the Week, as announced by the conference office on Monday.
The Wildcats (31-14) closed out the regular season with a 19-7 CACC record, earning the No. 3 seed in the upcoming CACC Tournament. They will play No. 6 Felician in the first round on Thursday at 12 p.m. at Georgian Court University, host of the CACC Tournament in Lakewood, N.J.
Bennett (Laurel, Del./Delmar) led the offense to a 7-1 record last week, hitting 10-for-16 with seven RBI and four runs scored. She hit three home runs and added a double, finishing with a 1.250 slugging percentage on the week. She was also walked three times last week, finishing with a .694 on-base percentage while hitting .625.
The junior set a single game program record in game one at Bloomfield, hitting three home runs while going 3-for-4 with five RBI and three runs scored. Bennett batted 2-for-3 with a double in game two against Post while adding another double in game two at Bloomfield, hitting 2-for-4.
Botsch (Smyrna, Del./Smyrna) earned her third CACC Pitcher of the Week, and second consecutive, award by going 5-0 in five appearances last week. She struck out 35 batters while not allowing a walk. She only allowed 11 hits and three runs, finishing the week with a 0.84 earned run average.
The senior struck out a week’s high nine batters in five innings against Bloomfield, but saw her consecutive shutout streak end at 52.1 innings as the Bears scored three runs with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning. She didn’t allow a hit or walk and struck out eight in four innings of game one against Concordia, tossing the first four innings before exiting the game. Botsch also struck out seven batters in five innings against Dowling.
Baseball’s Frank Samluk was named to the CACC Honor Roll for his week at the plate and on the mound for the Wildcats. Only being named Honor Roll ended a streak of six straight weeks the baseball team had a player named CACC Player of the Week.