CALDWELL SOFTBALL TAKES TWO FROM WILMINGTON

3-22-09
CC 6, WU 5 (8 inn.)
CC 8, WU 2
CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College softball team came back to defeat Wilmington University, 6-5 before winning 8-2 in the second game of a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader Sunday afternoon at Caldwell Field. The victories, which marked the Cougars' first home games of the season, keep Caldwell unbeaten in the conference at 4-0 and even its overall record at 7-7. The Wildcats fall to 5-13, 1-3 CACC.

Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning of the first game, the Cougars mounted a rally that started with a bunt single by freshman Kelly Ryan (Woonsocket, RI/Mt. St. Charles Acad.) to lead off the inning. After junior Danielle Genovese (Livingston, NJ/Livingston) singled and senior Gina Capardi (West Caldwell, NJ/Caldwell) walked to load the bases, a grounder by sophomore Annie Forte (Toms River, NJ/Toms River North) scored Ryan to make the score 5-3. A pop-up by junior Kyrie Timbrook (Los Gatos, CA/Los Gatos) brought home Genovese and moved Capardi to third. With the Cougars down to their last out, a throwing error on a potential game-ending grounder allowed Capardi to score the tying run and force extra innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Caldwell loaded the bases on a double and two walks. Forte followed with a hit to left-centerfield that drove home freshman Rebecca Ashley (Bellingham, MA/Mt. St. Charles Acad.) with the game-winning run.

Forte finished with three runs batted in, while Genovese, pictured, went 4-for-5 with a double and two runs. Freshman Marisa Tamez (Fountain Valley, CA/Fountain Valley) had three hits in the win. Freshman pitcher Kaitlyn McFarlane (Secaucus, NJ/Immaculate Conception) tossed four innings of relief and gave up one run on three hits to improve to 2-2. Sophomore Brittany Pulido (Ojai, CA/Nordhoff) started and gave up four runs, three earned, on six hits while striking out five in four innings. Wilmington's Kim Lawrence went the distance, allowing 11 hits and six runs, three earned, in 7 1/3 innings.

In Game 2, the Wildcats jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Lindsay Frye tripled home Lindsay Watson, then later scored on a wild pitch. The Cougars took the lead for good with three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Freshman Samantha Mayer (Neptune, NJ/Neptune) drove home two runs with a bases-loaded single, then Ryan bunted to score freshman Katie Margiotta (Sewell, NJ/Washington Twp.). Mayer hit another two-run single in the bottom of the fifth to spark a five-run inning and give Caldwell a commanding 8-2 lead. Tamez and Genovese also had RBIs in the inning. The freshman trio of Ryan, Margiotta and Mayer accounted for six hits, two apiece, to spark the Cougar bats.

Freshman Juliette Wilson (Dallas, OR/West Salem) settled down after the first inning and held the Wildcats to two hits the rest of the way to improve to 3-5 on the season. Wilson surrendered two runs, one earned, on four hits in a complete-game effort. Heather Kurasek took the loss for Wilmington.

The Cougars host Goldey-Beacom College in a CACC doubleheader on Tuesday, Mar. 24, beginning at 2:30 p.m. at Caldwell Field.

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