KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Caldwell College softball team played three games at the Rebel Spring Games Monday afternoon, beating Shippensburg University and Lake Erie College by the identical score of 8-0, and losing to California-PA, 8-1. The Cougars are now 4-1 on the season.
In the day's first game against Shippensburg, Caldwell started the bottom of the first inning with three straight singles to take a 2-0 lead. Freshman Megan Fryday (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills) hit a two-run single to plate junior Dia Cascone (Staten Island, NY/Susan Wagner) and freshman Kristen Knorr (Monroeville, NJ/Delsea). In the third, Fryday singled in another run and scored on a sacrifice fly from senior Marisa Tamez (Fountain Hills, CA/Fountain Hills). Also in the third, sophomore Nicole Velardi (Belleville, NJ/Belleville) singled home sophomore Jessica Miller (Sicklerville, NJ/Winslow Twp.) for a 5-0 lead. In the bottom of the fourth, Cascone hit her first home run of the season, a two-run shot to center that made the score 7-0. A single by freshman Briana Gaspich (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) plated Fryday for an 8-0 lead.
Junior pitcher Kourtney Wilson (Islip, NY/St. Anthony's) scattered four hits and struck out three in five innings for the shutout.
Against Lake Erie, Cascone led off the game with a double and later scored on a single by freshman Kristen Knorr (Monroeville, NJ/Delsea). Knorr drove in another run in the second with a sacrifice fly, while Cascone hit another double and scored on Fryday's single for a 3-0 lead. The Cougars scored three more runs in the sixth, with Velardi and freshman Sara Zambelli (West Milford, NJ/West Milford) recording RBI singles. Then in the seventh, freshman Alyssa Calderon (Fontana, CA/Etiwanda) hit a two-run single to make the score 8-0.
Freshman pitcher Hanna Walkinshaw (Aptos, CA/Aptos) made her first collegiate start and blanked Lake Erie on five hits while walking none in a complete-game victory. Knorr was 3-for-4 with a double, two runs and two RBI at the plate.
In the day's final game, which started at 7:15 p.m., California scored three runs in the top of the third inning to take an early lead. The Cougars got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth, when Cascone's two-out single plated Zambelli to make the score 3-1. But the Vulcans pushed five runs across in the top of the sixth on five hits to break open the game. California's Hope Spancake held Caldwell to one run on five hits in a complete-game win. Freshman Sarah Almasy (Stratford, NJ/Sterling) pitched 2 1/3 innings and took the loss.
The Cougars continue play at the Rebel Spring Games on Tuesday, Mar. 13, facing Slippery Rock University at 1:00 p.m. and Tiffin University at 3:00 p.m. at the Fortune Road Athletic Complex.
