COUGARS BATTLE GOLDEY-BEACOM FOR SOFTBALL SWEEP

3-24-09
CC 9, GBC 8 (8 inn.)
CC 9, GBC 1 (5 inn.)
CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College softball team won a wild game with Goldey-Beacom College, 9-8 in eight innings, before taking a 9-1 decision in Game 2 to sweep a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader Tuesday afternoon at a chilly Caldwell Field. The Cougars, who trailed 7-5 in the fifth inning of Game 1 before coming back to win, are now 9-7 overall and 6-0 in league play. The Lightning fall to 11-7, 2-2 CACC.

Caldwell opened the first game with a four-run outburst in the first inning. Junior Kyrie Timbrook (Los Gatos, CA/Los Gatos) and sophomore Annie Forte (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) both drove in runs in the inning, while an error resulted in two more runs. After the Lightning pushed a run across in the top of the second, the Cougars restored its four-run lead in the third, when a grounder by freshman Kelly Ryan (Woonsocket, RI/Mt. St. Charles Acad.) scored freshman Marisa Tamez (Fountain Valley, CA/Fountain Valley) from third. Goldey-Beacom battled back with three runs apiece in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 7-5 lead. All six runs were unearned due to three errors committed by Caldwell.

In the bottom of the fifth, freshman Samantha Mayer (Neptune, NJ/Neptune) scored on an error in the top of the sixth to make the score 7-6. After the Lightning scored another unearned run off a Caldwell miscue, the Cougars tied the game in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run single by Mayer. The game went into extra innings, and in the top of the eighth Goldey-Beacom loaded the bases with two out. But sophomore Brittany Pulido (Ojai, CA/Nordhoff) induced a groundout to end the threat. In the bottom of the eighth with two out, Ryan singled, then scored on a single by junior Danielle Genovese (Livingston, NJ/Livingston) to win the game.

Pulido pitched four innings and earned the win to improve to 2-0 on the season. Heather Draper went the distance for Goldey-Beacom and dropped to 5-4. The Cougars finished with five errors in the game and stranded 15 runners on base.

The Lightning took an early lead in the second game on a solo home run by Shannon O'Hara in the top of the first. Genovese doubled home Ryan in the bottom of the inning to tie the game at 1-1. The Cougars took the lead for good in the third with four runs, including two on a bases-loaded single by Timbrook (pictured), for a 5-1 advantage. Four more runs in the bottom of the fifth gave Caldwell a 9-1 victory and its third CACC sweep of the season. Mayer hit a run-scoring double, while freshman Katie Margiotta (Sewell, NJ/Washington Twp.) tripled home Mayer and Tamez in the fifth.

Forte pitched five innings and gave up one run on five hits while striking out six and walking none to earn her first victory of the season.

The Cougars continue their CACC schedule with a home doubleheader against Bloomfield College on Thursday, Mar. 26. The first game is set to begin at 2:30 p.m. at Caldwell Field.

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