CC 6, CWP 5
CC 11, CWP 3 (5 inn.)
CALDWELL, N.J. - The Caldwell College softball team took a pair of non-conference games from regionally-ranked C.W. Post, 6-5 and 11-3 in five innings Wednesday afternoon at Caldwell Field. The Cougars, who rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh to win Game 1, improve to 35-10 overall. The Pioneers, ranked third in the latest East Region rankings, fall to 33-17.
In the first game, C.W. Post broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh inning with a three-run home run by Alexis Gonzalez for a 5-2 lead. With two outs and runners on first and third in the bottom of the seventh, freshman Kristen Knorr (Monroeville, NJ/Delsea Reg.) singled home junior Amy Leal (New Bedford, MA/Bishop Stang) to make the score 5-3. After a single by freshman Briana Gaspich (Brick, NJ/Brick Memorial) loaded the bases, freshman Alyssa Calderon (Fontana, CA/Etiwanda) singled up the middle to score Knorr and freshman Sara Zambelli (West Milford, NJ/West Milford) and tie the game at 5-5. With Gaspich on third, a wild pitch allowed her to come home with the game-winning run.
Knorr went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in, while Calderon and Gaspich each tallied two hits in the win. Junior pitcher Kourtney Wilson (Islip, NY/St. Anthony's) went the distance and gave up five runs on 12 hits to move to 16-4 on the year.
The Pioneers scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first inning of Game 2 to lead 2-0. Gaspich singled in junior Dia Cascone (Staten Island, NY/Susan Wagner) in the bottom of the first, then freshman Megan Fryday (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills) came home on an error to tie the score at 2-2. In the bottom of the third, the Cougars broke open the game with nine runs on seven hits to take a commanding 11-2 lead. Gaspich hit a two-run home run, Calderon and Cascone hit two-run singles, and Knorr had a double and an RBI single in the inning. The Pioneers scored a run in the top of the fifth on a two-out single by Alyson Dzierzynski, who had four hits on the day.
Knorr, Gaspich, Calderon and Fryday had two hits apiece for Caldwell, which is ranked fifth in the East Region rankings. Freshman Hanna Walkinshaw (Aptos, CA/Aptos) allowed three runs, one earned, on six hits in five innings to improve to 9-4.
Gaspich's home run in the third inning was her eighth of the season, breaking the Cougars' freshman home run record. Anna Dahl set the record of seven in 2004, with Gaspich and Knorr tying the record this season.
Caldwell plays a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference doubleheader at league-leading Dominican College on Friday, Apr. 20. The first game starts at 3:00 p.m. in Orangeburg, N.Y.
