CACC Tournament Central: https://www.caccathletics.org/sports/Championship/21-22/SOFT
LAKEWOOD, N.J. - - The Wilmington University softball team won its first two games of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament to advance in the winner's bracket on Thursday at Georgian Court. They defeated Bloomfield, 4-1, before making a late-game comeback to defeat Caldwell, 4-3.
With the predicted incoming weather along the East Coast tomorrow, the games have been moved up with games nine and 10 to now start at 9:00 a.m. The Wildcats will now play top seed and host Georgian Court, who defeated Holy Family, 5-1, and USciences, 13-0, at 11:00 a.m. on Field 1.
GAME 1:
The second-seeded Wildcats jumped out early on the No. 7 Bloomfield in the opener, scoring twice with two outs in the bottom of the first.
Lauren Lopez hit her third homer of the year, ringing the left field foul pole to start the scoring in the bottom of the first. Haley Downin followed with a double to right center and then Gabbie Saucedo singled into center to chase Downin around to make it 2-0.
Starter Kylee Gunkel didn't allow a hit until the third inning but left the runner on first to end the inning. Lexi Moore singled to start the third and then stole second. Now with two outs, Gabbie Saucedo hit another RBI single, giving the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.
Speed gave the Wildcats their fourth run of the game, as Tristyn Stewart stole third and was able to score as the ball got away from the third baseman on the throw in the fourth.
Bloomfield got on the board in the sixth with a two-out double, but Gunkel was able to get out of the inning with the lead, 4-1. She then struck out the side in the top of the seventh to move into the winner's bracket.
Lauren Lopez went 2-for-3 with the home run while Saucedo finished 2-for-3 with two RBI. Gunkel struck out eight while allowing one run on three hits to improve to 16-10 on the year.
GAME 2:
The Wildcats moved on to face third seeded Caldwell in the winner's bracket and used a four-run sixth inning to come back from 2-0 deficit. The Cougars scored a run in the top of the seventh and had the tying run at third base, but Renamarie Rocha struck out the final batter to win the game, 4-3.
Rocha didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning, but the offense couldn't come up with the big hit either. The Wildcats had a chance in the second as Emma Zimmerman and Sara Miller reached base with two outs. Arianna Milan hit one back up the middle but the ball glanced off Zimmerman in the basepath for the third out of the inning.
The Wildcats then put runners on second and third with only one out in the third, but back-to-back grounders got Caldwell out of the inning unscathed.
Caldwell hit back-to-back homers in the top of the fifth inning to grab a 2-0 lead. The turning point of the game may have been a defensive play for the Wildcats in the sixth, as Tristyn Stewart pulled back a near grand slam off the bat of Paige Sandoval to end the inning and keep the game at 2-0.
A throwing error allowed Lauren Lopez to reach to start the sixth and then three straight bunts produced the Wildcats' first run. Sara Miller then hit a sharp grounder to short that allowed Saucedo to score and tie the game, 2-2. Arianna Millan followed with a liner into left center and Adriana Bueno scored the go-ahead run from second, 3-2. Isabella Eleazar followed with a much needed insurance run, singling up the middle to plate Courtney Dellinger, 4-2.
Reliever Kylee Gunkel got the first two outs of the seventh but the Cougars followed with a double and a triple to cut the lead in half, 4-3. Renamarie Rocha came back in and picked up the game-ending strikeout for the save.
Kylee Gunkel threw 2.1 innings of relief to improve to 17-10 on the year while Rocha picked up her fourth save. Lexi Moore, Sara Miller, Arianna Millan, and Isabella Eleazar had two hits each in the win.