COUGARS SOFTBALL

CALDWELL WINS MARATHON OVER BLOOMFIELD AT CACC TOURNEY

5-4-06
CC 1, BC 0 (14 inn.)
CALDWELL, N.J. - A groundball by sophomore Nicole Bodrog (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape), left, scored sophomore Carrie Flasphaler (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the 12th-ranked Caldwell College softball team a 1-0 victory over Bloomfield College on the first day of the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament Thursday afternoon at Caldwell Field. The top-seeded Cougars (34-15) advance to face Dominican College on Friday at 2:00 p.m., while the fifth-seeded Deacons (16-29) will play either Felician College or Goldey-Beacom College at noon on Friday.

Flasphaler started the 14th inning off with a bunt single, then stole second. Sophomore Alyssa Speno (Waterloo, NY/Waterloo) bunted Flasphaler to third and was safe on a fielder's choice. After Speno stole second, Bodrog hit a grounder to third baseman Amanda Byrnes. Flasphaler beat Byrnes' throw home for the game's only run after nearly three hours and 30 minutes of play.

Both teams had scoring chances throughout the day, with Bloomfield leaving nine runners on base and Caldwell stranding 16. The Cougars loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, but a strikeout and groundout ended the inning and the threat.

The pitchers for both teams dominated the game, as the teams were held to a combined 15 hits in 14 innings. Senior Jessica Saunders (Glen Burnie, MD/Archbishop Spaulding) started the game for Caldwell and struck out a career-high 16 batters in 7 1/3 innings of work. Junior Anna Dahl (Lindenwold, NJ/Camden Catholic), right, came on in the eighth inning and pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings of relief to earn the win and improve to 14-6. Bloomfield starter Kristin Wilhelm held the Cougars to three hits in seven innings before giving way to Fauna Ryerson, who went six innings and allowed four hits and the lone run to drop to 11-15. Ryerson had pitched a complete game earlier in the day, when she helped the Deacons defeat fourth-seeded Goldey-Beacom 7-3 in the tournament's first game.

"I'm very proud of our team and the way they played today," Caldwell coach Dean Johnson said. "We pitched outstanding all day and made some great plays in the field, but we had a lot of runners on base and just couldn't get the big hit at the right time. But the players stuck with it and we finally got that run."

The two-time defending CACC Tournament-champion Cougars will play a winner's bracket game against second-seeded Dominican on Friday, beginning at 2:00 p.m. at Caldwell Field. Here are today's results along with the remaining schedule:

2006 CACC Softball Tournament at Caldwell College
Thursday, May 4
Game 1: No. 5 Bloomfield 7, No. 4 Goldey-Beacom 3 - box score
Game 2: No. 3 Georgian Court 6,  No. 6 Felician 4 - box score
Game 3: No. 1 Caldwell 1, No. 5 Bloomfield 0 (14 inn.) - box score
Game 4: No. 2 Dominican 6, No. 3 Georgian Court 2 - box score
Game 5: No. 6 Felician 5, No. 4 Goldey-Beacom 1 - box score
Friday, May 5
Game 6: No. 5 Bloomfield vs. No. 6 Felician, 12 pm
Game 7: No. 3 Georgian Court vs. Winner of Game 6, 2 pm
Game 8: No. 1 Caldwell vs. No. 2 Dominican, 2 pm
Saturday, May 6
Game 9: Loser of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 7, 11 am
Game 10: Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 9, 1 pm
Game 11: Re-play Game 10 if necessary, 3 pm

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