Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
CALDWELL, N.J. - Junior Nicole Velardi (Belleville, NJ/Belleville) drove in five runs with three doubles and a triple on the day as the Caldwell College softball team swept a non-league doubleheader with Pace University Sunday afternoon at Caldwell Field. The 17th-ranked Cougars, who won 15-7 in five innings and 6-0, improve to 35-8 on the season, while the Setters are now 14-18.

In the first game, Caldwell took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on a double by sophomore Alyssa Calderon (Fontana, CA/Etiwanda) that plated freshman Caitlin McCready (Jupiter, FL/Dwyer). Jeane Drury put Pace ahead with a two-run homer in the top of the fourth to lead 2-1. The Cougar bats responded in the bottom of the fourth with nine runs on six hits to make the score 10-2. Sophomore Kristen Knorr (Monroeville, NJ/Delsea) hit a two-run triple, Velardi cleared the bases with a three-run double, and McCready, Calderon, sophomore Briana Gaspich (Brick Twp., NJ/Brick Memorial) and junior Jacklyn Bates (Waterloo, NY/Waterloo) drove in runs.

But Pace did not go quietly, scoring five times in the top of the fifth to not only stay alive, but to reduce the deficit to three, 10-7. Drury and Rachael McMahon both had two-run doubles for the Setters. In the bottom of the fifth, after McCready scored on a wild pitch, Velardi came up with the bases loaded again and delivered a two-run double. Sophomore Megan Fryday (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills) followed with a single that plated Gaspich and advanced Velardi to third. Bates then executed a squeeze bunt that allowed Velardi to come home and end the game in Caldwell's favor, 15-7.

Senior pitcher Kourtney Wilson (Islip, NY/St. Anthony) went the distance for the Cougars to improve to 16-3 on the season.

Caldwell took control of Game 2 with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, including another RBI double for Velardi. In the sixth, Velardi hit a triple to left field that brought home senior Dia Cascone (Staten Island, NY/Susan Wagner), then scored on a grounder by Bates for a 6-0 lead. Freshman pitcher Amber Padilla (Chino, CA/Pomona Catholic) did the rest, holding Pace scoreless on four hits while striking out seven for her fifth shutout of the season.

Velardi ended up 4-for-7 on the day with three doubles, a triple, five runs and five RBI. McCready, who went 4-for-4 in Game 1, had five hits in six at-bats and scored four runs in the two wins.

The Cougars face LIU Post in a key regional doubleheader on Wednesday, Apr. 24. The first pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. in Brookville, N.Y.