Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – The 10th-ranked Caldwell College softball team secured first place in the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference after beating Chestnut Hill twice, 12-3 and 10-2 in a doubleheader at the CHC Softball Field. The CACC regular-season title is the first outright first-place finish since 2006 for the Cougars, who are now 38-4 overall and 22-1 in league play.

In the first game, Caldwell scored three runs in each of the first two innings to take a 6-0 lead. Sophomore Brielle Reighn (Runnemeade, NJ/Triton Regional) doubled home junior Kristen Knorr (Monroeville, NJ/Delsea) in the first inning and hit a two-run double in the second. Giana Cavallo hit a two-run home run for Chestnut Hill in the bottom of the third to make the score 6-2. The teams exchanged runs in the fourth, then the Cougars scored twice in the fifth for a 9-3 advantage. Then in the sixth, Reighn hit her third double of the game to score sophomore Caitlin McCready (Jupiter, FL/Dwyer) and later came home on a single by senior Jacklyn Bates (Waterloo, NY/Waterloo). Bates also scored on an error to make the score 12-3.

Reighn went 3-for-4 with three doubles, two runs and four RBIs, and also pitched the final three innings to earn the victory. Junior Megan Fryday (San Marcos, CA/Mission Hills) also had three hits. Freshman Sydney Ponto (West Deptford, NJ/West Deptford) started the game and allowed two runs on four hits in three innings.

Caldwell started fast in Game 2 as well, with Reighn delivering another RBI double to plate Knorr, and later scoring on a single by junior Alyssa Calderon (Fontana, CA/Etiwanda). Calderon came home on a double by Fryday for a 3-0 lead. Then in the fourth, Knorr blasted a three-run home run, her team-leading sixth of the season, to put the Cougars ahead, 6-0. Emily Soller answered for the Griffins with a two-run homer in the bottom of the fourth. But Caldwell put the game away in the fifth, getting a two-run double from freshman Amy Hickman (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Liberty) and a two-run home run by freshman Gracie Sullivan (Elmhurst, IL/York), her fifth of the year.

Reighn ended up with two doubles in Game 2 and five doubles on the day. Knorr, Calderon and Hickman also recorded two hits in the second game for Caldwell. Junior Hanna Walkinshaw (Aptos, CA/Aptos) pitched all five innings, allowing two runs on five hits while striking out six without a walk to improve to 10-0.

The CACC regular-season title also gives Caldwell the top seed in the CACC Tournament, which begins on Thursday, May 1 in Lakewood, N.J. The Cougars won last year's tournament for their first CACC championship since 2008.

Caldwell plays another CACC doubleheader on Sunday, Apr. 27 at Georgian Court University. The first game starts at 12:00 p.m. in Lakewood, N.J.