Press Release Written by Nathan Foltz
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - - The fifth-seeded Wilmington University softball team took the first game of their best-of-three Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference First Round series at fourth-seeded Holy Family on Saturday, defeating the Tigers 6-2 in Philadelphia.
The Wildcats are now one win away from making it to the double-elimination portion of the tournament that will be hosted at Asbury Field next weekend, and they'll get two cracks at it on Sunday afternoon.
Wilmington got on the board in the first, and although Holy Family was able to tie it later on, they never took the lead in the ballgame.
Hailey Trapani made the Tigers pay for a walk to lead off the game, stealing second and then coming home to score on a two-out single by Maddie Vollmar. Another leadoff runner aboard proved costly for Holy Family in the second as well, as Addison Sabo started things off there with a triple in the gap and came home on a Mia Lane sac fly to make it 2-0.
Holy Family was able to get a runner on in each of the first three frames, but none of them came around to score. That changed in the bottom of the fourth, with a leadoff single and home run off of Olivia Hitchens knotting things up at two. The blast knocked Hitchens out of the game, but Vollmar came on and pitched very well over the final four innings, shutting the Tigers down to four hits and no runs while punching out six.
In response to Holy Family's game-tying homer, Lane promptly untied things with a blast of her own to kick off the fifth. That started a string of four unanswered runs by Wilmington to close out the contest, as they tacked on another two in the sixth and an extra insurance run in the seventh.
The Tigers' biggest offensive threat came in the bottom of the sixth, where they loaded the bases with one out. But Vollmar came up big, striking out a batter and inducing a groundout to first to escape the jam. The Tigers then went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the seventh.
Each Wildcat pitcher gave up four hits, with Hitchens giving up the two-run homer and a walk in her three-plus innings of work. Vollmar picked up the win for her efforts, striking out six in four frames.
Addison Sabo was the lone Wildcat with multiple hits, going 2-3 with a double, triple, and an RBI. Mia Keenan had a double, and Mia Lane homered with two RBI. Trapani, Vollmar, and Saucedo recorded an RBI each.
The Wildcats will be back in Philadelphia on Sunday to finish their best-of-three series. They'll be done until Thursday if they win the first game, which starts at noon, but if they lose, a decisive game three will have to be played to see who moves on in the CACC Tournament.