WINTER HAVEN, Fla. Caldwell University softball freshman Ashleigh Tavaska (Jackson, N.J.) blasted a two-run walk off homerun in the Cougars win over Southern Connecticut State University and added three hits in a win against Pace University. The Cougars defeated the Owls 12-10 in the ninth inning and came away with a 3-0 win over the Setters to notch a pair of key regional victories.
 
The Cougars improve to 5-3 on their season opening trip with one game remaining before they return north.
 
In the opening game win over Southern Connecticut, the Owls jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the opening inning. Caldwell got a run back in the second as senior Chloe VanGorder (Harveys Lake, Pa.) led off with a single. Senior Emma Cooney (Livingston, N.J.) singled home VanGorder with two outs to cut the score to 2-1.
 
The Owls added four runs in the third to go up 6-1 but the Cougars rallied back in the middle innings. Tavaska and freshman Kaylin Brozaitis (Rancho Murieta, Calif.) posted run scoring singles in the fourth to trim the score to 6-3.
 
Caldwell plated four runs in the fifth as senior Maya Rodriguez (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) drove in two runs with a single. Tavaska reached on a bunt single to tie the game at 6-6, while junior Courtney Grundhauser (Easton, Pa.) added a sacrifice fly to give the Cougars a 7-6 lead.
 
Southern Connecticut answered with two runs in the sixth and one in the seventh to push ahead 9-7. Caldwell pulled even in their half of the seventh as they took advantage for two Owl errors to tie the game at nine and force extra innings.
 
The teams matched runs in the ninth as senior Lauren Stansell (Plantation, Fla.) hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to keep the score tied at 10-10.
 
In the ninth, junior Taylor Mischler (Endicott, N.Y.) was placed on second as per international tiebreaker rules and Tavaska followed with a two-out walk-off two-run homerun to send the Cougars off to a hard fought 12-10 victory.
 
Senior Kayla Daly (Babylon, N.Y.) earned the win in relief as she tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing one hit.
 
In the win against Pace, the score remained tied through four innings of play. Tavaska got the Cougars on the board with a run scoring single in the fifth. Freshman Jessica Klein (Trevose, Pa.) added an RBI single in the sixth, while VanGorder drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
 
Daly improved to 3-1 with a complete game four-shutout, striking out four in the win.
 
The Cougars wrap up their Florida trip as they face regional foe Saint Anselm College on Saturday, March 19 at 11:15 am at DiamondPlex in Winter Haven, Florida.