NEW CASTLE, Del. - - A pair of tightly contested softball games against the best of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference has to offer did not go Wilmington University's way, as the Wildcats fell, 7-4 and 1-0, to Caldwell College at Asbury Field on Monday afternoon.
Wilmington University (20-16, 7-5 CACC) had its eight game win streak snapped with the game one loss while Caldwell (27-4, 16-0 CACC) saw its own winning streak extend to 23 straight games, narrowly escaping defeat in each game.
Sophomore Chelsea Botsch was cruising through the first four innings in the circle for the Wildcats before CACC leading Cougars poured on all seven runs in two innings, taking over the lead in game one.
The Wildcats were given a 3-0 lead with one swing of the bat in the third inning, as a two out rally resulted in an early lead for the upset minded home team. Shelby Thompson started the inning with an infield single, and then was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Botsch. Now with two outs, Brook Ashe hit another infield single to put runners on the corners. Christin Headley stepped in and took the first pitch she saw from Cougar pitcher Kourtney Wilson and deposited it over the fence in left for her second home run of the season.
After working out of two out, two on jam in the fourth, Botsch wasn't so fortunate in the fifth inning. Caldwell loaded the bases with its first three batters in the inning. Botsch nearly saw her way out of the inning by getting the first out at home and a foul out for two outs, but clever base runner by the Cougars on the foul out allowed two runs to cross on the play to cut the gap to 3-2.
Caldwell tied the game with two doubles in the first three batters in the sixth before taking the lead off another double to left center off the bat of Kristen Knorr off reliever Jillian Stafford. After all was said and down, the Cougars tallied five runs on five hits in the sixth inning to take a 7-3 lead.
The Wildcats attempted to mount a comeback in the seventh as Rachel Painter started the inning off with a single into right field. Thompson followed with another infield single and with runners on the corners, Ash singled back up the middle to cut into the lead, 7-4. But Thompson was gunned down at the third on the play, ending the rally and the game for the Wildcats.
Ash batted 3-for-4 in game one, collecting hits from both sides of the plate. Painter and Thompson each went 2-for-3 in the game while Headley and Botsch collected the other two hits for the Wildcats.
The second game was a brilliantly pitched match between the Wildcats' Katie Warrington and the Cougar's Amber Padilla, as each student-athlete went all seven innings and gave up a combined one run (unearned) on eight hits.
The gloves hurt the Wildcats in game two, as the home team committed four errors in the field with one leading to the games' only run in the third inning. Warrington walked the leadoff batter in the third inning, her only walk of the game, which came back to haunt her. After getting the next two batters out, Warrington gave up a single to left field, but the one-hopper got away from the Wildcat left fielder, allowing the runner to turn the corner at third and head home.
The Wildcats put two runners on in the home half of the third inning, as Ash singled and Headley walked, but Padilla was able to buckle down and get the next two batters out to end the threat.
The only other threat for the home team came in the home half of the seventh, as Brooke Berger worked a one out walk to put the tying run on base. Thompson singled on a bunt back to the pitcher to put the winning run on first base. Rice Fazio came up and chopped one to second and Caitlin McCready tagged Thompson out running in front of her and flipped to first for the game-ending double play.
Warrington struck out five batters while only allowing five hits and one walk, falling to 11-3 on the year. Padilla walked four and struck out four, but improved to 9-1 after only allowing three hits on the day.
Ash finished 2-for-3 in game two while Thompson collected the only other hit off a Wilmington bat.
The Wildcats will look to quickly shake off the losses form Monday and start a new winning streak on Wednesday, as they host Philadelphia for another CACC doubleheader. The first pitch of game one is scheduled for 3 p.m. at Asbury Field.
