LAKEWOOD, NJ-In a battle for CACC Championship tournament positioning, the Georgian Court University softball squad split a crucial doubleheader with Wilmington University Thursday afternoon. The Wildcats took game one, 5-2, before the Lions countered with a 3-0 victory in the nightcap.

Georgian Court ( 31-19) and Wilmington (25-22) entered the twin-bill tied for third place in the CACC standings and that is exactly where they ended they day, sharing the same 17-7 conference record.

FIRST GAME

The Lions' emotions were running high as they honored six seniors during their annual Senior Day celebration, which included Kelsey Cutler, Brooke Hull, Christina Masitti#, Rachel Ruch, Selina Santillo, and Jen Tartaglia.

The two squads traded zeros in the first frame before Wilmington 2B Jessica Hassman (Sr.-Elkton, MD) blasted a two-run home run in the top of the second frame to put the Wildcats ahead, 2-0. The Lions plated their first run in the bottom of the fourth on Hull's sixth home run  of the season, a solo shot.

Wilmington made it a 3-1 advantage with a tally in the top of the sixth, courtesy of a Hassman RBI single. GCU quickly cancelled out that run in the bottom of the frame when Cutler crunched her 30th career home run (solo) and her team-leading eighth of the season.

However, the Wildcats tacked on two vital insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning to make the score 5-2. SS Christin Headley (So.-Georgetown, DE) ripped a lead-off double to center, which was immediately followed by a two-run dinger to left off the bat of 1B Jillian Stafford (Gloucester City, NJ), her fifth of the campaign.

Chelsea Botsch (7-7) earned the win for the Wildcats, permitting two runs on six hits and two walks. The freshman hurler also struck out five batters in her seven innings of work. Hull fell to 25-11 as she yielded five runs (4 ER) on eight hits and three walks in the complete game. She also struck out one.


Cutler (2-for-2, R, RBI) and Santillo (2-for-3) each contributed multi-hit games.


SECOND GAME 

GCU and Wilmington played four-and-a-half scoreless innings in the nightcap before the Lions broke the scoring drought in the bottom of the fifth when Hull laced a two-out, two-run double to left-center that plated Ruch (fielder's choice) and Tartaglia (fielder's choice). Georgian Court added an additional run in the sixth inning when LF Alyssa Paradiso brought home Santillo (infield single) with a base hit thorugh the middle.

Hull won her CACC-leading 26th game with the complete-game shutout, scattering five hits and walking two.

Wilmington ace, Katie Warrington (Jr.-Townsend, DE), started the contest and held the Lions to four hits and zero runs before she was removed during her warm-ups prior to the fifth frame with what appeared to be a back injury. Danielle Griffin (So.-Greenwood, DE) relieved Warrington, yielding three unearned runs on four hits over her two innings. She falls to 5-5 on the year.

Hull (2-for-3, 2 RB), Santillo (2-for-3, R), and RF Ashlynn Thompson (2-for-3) provided multi-hit efforts.

The Lions conclude their regular season Saturday afternoon with a 1:00 PM doubleheader at Bloomfield College.