NEWARK, Del. - - Despite the bats being stymied by Kutztown, the Wilmington University softball team earned a nonconference split on Tuesday afternoon, winning the opener, 3-0, before falling in the nightcap, 4-2, at Asbury Field.
The Wildcats (30-14) won at least 30 games for the fourth straight season, despite only getting two hits in the opener. They rode the hot hand of Makayla McCarthy to the opening victory before the Golden Bears (14-17) split the day in the nightcap.
Game One:
Rosa'Lynn Burton out the Wildcats on the board in the bottom of the first inning. She started the inning off with a bunt single, moving up to second on a throwing error on the play. Alyssa Velasquez moved her to third with a sacrifice bunt, and Burton executed a delay steal as the catcher threw it back to the circle.
That was all game one starter Makayla McCarthy needed, as she struck out two in the first, two in the second, and one in the third before giving the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
A pair of errors put runners on second and third with two outs. McCarthy brought in both runners with a liner just over the head of the second baseman, giving the home team a 3-0 lead.
McCarthy struck out the side in the fourth and two more in the seventh to reach 10 strikeouts in the game. She improved to 14-8 on the year while only allowing two hits and two walks in the complete game shutout.
Game Two:
The Wildcats jumped in front of the Golden Bears in the bottom of the second of the nightcap, loading the bases with two outs. A wild pitch brought in Jordyn Virden from third, but that would be all the Wildcats would get in the frame.
The Golden Bears tied it in the top of the third, getting a two-out RBI double off the wall in left center.
A five-hit top of the fifth would put the Golden Bears in front for good. A one-out double to left scored the first runner from second before a single in the next at-bat quickly made it 3-1. Now with two outs, another single brought in a runner from second base for the 4-1 advantage.
The Wildcats had a chance in the bottom of the fifth, but could only answer with one run. The Wildcats had runners on second and third with no outs, but a ground out to third did not allow the runners to move. Makayla McCarthy then tripled to the wall in left field, but only Jazmeen Llamas scored on the play as Rosa'Lynn Burton was thrown out at the plate for the second out. Kutztown then induced a grounder to escape any further damage.
Wilmington then went down quietly in the sixth and seventh innings in the loss.
Five different Wildcats picked up one hit in loss. Game two starter Caitlyn Whiteside fell to 15-6 in the circle, throwing 4.2 innings while allowing four runs on nine hits.
Up Next:
Wednesday scheduled doubleheader at Georgian Court has been pushed back 24 hours, and will now be played on Thursday afternoon in Lakewood, New Jersey. The first pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.