Lakewood, N.J.- The No. 2 seed Georgian Court University softball squad, staving off elimination in three straight games Saturday afternoon, advanced to its eighth Central Atlantic Collegiate Championship tournament over the last 10 years and will now take on No. 5 Wilmington University for the 2014 crown Sunday at 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. (if necessary).

GCU opened the day with an epic, 10-inning triumph over No. 4 Holy Family University, defeating the Tigers by a 6-5 score. The Lions proceeded to eliminate No. 6 Dominican College by a 10-5 mark before walking off No.3 Post University, 4-3, to receive the title round invite.

Game One vs. Holy Family

The No. 4 Tigers (27-16) pounced first in the first frame of the day's initial game after Holy Family began the inning with a double and single, followed by a  three-run homer by SS Samantha Borrelli (West Berlin, N.J.). SS Briana Molino put the Lions on the board with a run in the home half of the first after her ribbie single brought home CF Dara Schroeder (single, stolen base) from second.

Holy Family increased its lead to 4-1 in the fourth frame after plating an unearned run. GCU cut its deficit to just one in the bottom of the fifth after a run-scoring triple from RF Alyssa Paradiso, followed by an unearned run after a HFU fielding blunder.

After both clubs exchanged lone runs in both ends of the six to give the Tigers a slim 5-4 advantage, the Lions finally evened the contest in the last of the seventh after a bases-loaded groundout by 2B Justine Mattia brought in the tying run. 

Holy Family and GCU could not muster tallies in the first two extra innings, but the Lions finally broke through in the bottom of the 10th. Schroeder led off the inning with a bunt base hit and moved to second on a Paradiso sacrifice bunt. Molino grounded out to second, moving Schroeder to third before 3B Taylor McDonough plated her with a single to right.

Deanna Daluise (12-9) earned the win out of the GCU bullpen after throwing 4.2 innings of shutout relief (3 H, 2 K). Bailey Walters (Fr.-Ridgecrest, Calif.) went the distance (9.2 IP) for the Tigers in the loss, permitting 6 runs (5 ER) on 17 hits and a walk (4 K). The Holy Family hurler also hit 1B Emma Erbig three times with a pitch. 

Schroeder enjoyed a 4-for-5 (3 R) effort with the bat while Paradiso (3-for-5) and McDonough (3-for-6) tallied three hits each. DP Taylor Boltersdorf (2-for-5) collected a pair. 

Game Two vs.Dominican

The Lions' adrenaline carried over into their contest with Lady Chargers (20-27) as GCU dropped a first-inning five-spot on the No.6 seed, highlighted by Mattia's two-run long ball two left (5th of the year). Dominican collected itself in the top of the third by dishing out five runs of their own to tie the game. The damaging blow came off the bat off Lizzie Hogan (So.-San Jose, Calif.) in the form of a three-run homer.

GCU wasted no time in running away with the contest, plating a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings and another tally in the fifth as the Lions coasted to the 10-5 triumph.

Abby Merryman improved to 11-6 in the circle for GCU by hurling five innings of scoreless relief (3 H). Kim Ragazzo (So.-Lawrenceville, N.J.),  was tagged with the Dominican loss, yielding six runs (3 ER) on four hits (1 K) in 2.0 IP.

Mattia (2-for-3, 2 R, 3 RBI), Molino (2-for-4, R, RBI) and C Meghan Sfraga (2-for-3, 2 RBI) provided mult-hit efforts for the GCU offense.

Game Three vs. Post

With one more victory needed to make it to the championship round for the second straight season, Paradiso put the Lions on their way with a two-run single to center field in the third inning vs. the No. 3 seed Eagles (24-22). Post got on the board and cut the GCU lead to 2-1 in the top of the fifth after ribbie double by LF Kristen Owens (Fr.-Exton, Pa.).

 The Lions increased its lead to 3-1 in the fifth after another Paradiso RBI hit. After a scorless sixth, Post refused to go down without a fight as the Eagles brought  in the tying runs, courtesy of a Kaitlin Iacomini (So.-Pleasant Valley, N.Y.) RBI double and a run-inducing single by Owens.

With the score now tied at 3-3, Sfraga led off the last of the seventh by reaching on a Post error. LF Bryana Smith proceeded to sacrifice pinch-runner Kelly Hardiman to second. Boltersdorf followed with a single through the right side that advanced Hardiman to third. Schroeder would then roll a fielder's choice to first base. Hardiman would stray off third on the play, drawing a throw that would go errant, and ultimately bring in the walk-off run.

Merryman (12-6) won her second contest of the day as the freshman southpaw allowed three runs (3 ER) on 11 hits and a walk (3 K) in the complete-game gem. Post's Kaitlin Derby was saddled with the defeat by permitting the go-ahead run (1 H) in 1.1 innings of relief.

Paradiso (2-for-3, 3 RBI) and Boltersdorf (2-for-3) provided two hits apiece for the Lions.