NEW CASTLE, Del, -- Senior 2B Courtney Grundhauser's (Easton, Pa.) two-run triple keyed a four-run first inning, and graduate RHP Kayla Daly (Babylon, N.Y) made it stand up as Caldwell softball gained a hard-earned split with No. 25 Wilmington in game two of a battle between the top two teams in the CACC standings, 4-2. The Wildcats won a wild opener, 4-3, in 11 innings.

Game one was a classic, the teams battling it out into extra innings before the hosts pushed across the winning run in the bottom of the 11th. The Cougars (20-9, 13-2 CACC) took the lead in the second inning on a single by senior left fielder Emma Cooney (Livingston, N.J.) plating Grundhauser. Wilmington tied the score in the bottom of the third and the game remained at 1-1 into extra innings. The Cougars scored single runs in the ninth on a double by Grundhauser and the 10th on a double by sophomore RF Jessica Klein (Trevose, Pa.). But both times the Wildcats (24-10, 14-2) scored in their half of the frame to send it to another inning.

After the Cougars escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the bottom of the 10th, they failed to score in the top of the 11th, and Wilmington finally pushed across the game winner for the 4-3 triumph. Senior RHP Mariah Culver (Oswego, N.Y.) pitched the first 5 2/3 innings, allowing no earned runs on three hits, and freshman righty Olivia Kennedy (Chenango Forks, N.Y) was the hard-luck loser, going the last five, allowing no earned runs.

In the nightcap, following Grundhauser's triple, Cooney and freshman 3B Alexa Lee (Blackwood, N.J.) contributed RBI hits in the first. Daly tossed a complete-game eight-hitter for her fifth win of the season, stranding the potential tying and winning runs on base in the seventh, working out of a bases-loaded jam with a game-ending ground out.

The Cougars visit third-place Felician on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Palisades Park in their next action.