Lakewood, N.J. - Georgian Court University's magical season came to an abrupt close Friday as the Lions dropped contests to #1 Caldwell University (6-5) and #4 Dominican College (6-3), eliminating GCU from the 2018 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Softball Championship Tournament.

The #3 Lions conclude the campaign with a record of 30-23, a full 16 more victories than 2017.

In the opener, Caldwell snapped a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third when Maya Rodriguez (Fr.-Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) ripped a one-out ribbie single through the middle to go ahead 1-0. The Cougars looked to have broken the game wide open later in the frame when catcher Paige Sandoval (Fr.-Aliso Viejo, Calif.), immediately after a costly Georgian Court fielding blunder, ripped a grand slam laser over the center field wall to put the top seed ahead by five.

After each team plated a run in the each half of the fourth, the Lions clawed to within one with a four-spot in the top of the fifth, highlighted by a two-run triple off the bat of Malia Black and a Caitlin Hughes run-inducing three-bagger.

That would be as close as GCU could get as the Caldwell defense held off the Lions the rest of the way to earn the win, and punch its ticket to the CACC title game, Saturday afternoon on SEI Investments Field (12:00 p.m.) vs. Dominican.

Sara Bearden (So.-Ewing, N.J.) went four innings to earn the win, permitting four runs (3 ER) on three hits and a walk (5 K). Jessie Johnston (So.-Livermore, Calif.) mustered the save with three frames of work (4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB). Jessica O'Neil suffered the defeat in the circle for the Lions (4.2 IP, 6 H, 6 R, 1 ER, 3 BB).

In the nightcap, Hughes led off the game with her team-record 12th triple of the year, before being brought home by a Samantha Salomon sacrifice fly. The Chargers, going for their third win of the day, plated a pair of runs in the third, followed by a trio of tallies in the fourth, to create a four-run surplus at 5-1. 

Samantha Reilly kept Georgian Court's hopes alive in the fifth when the star slammed her 25th home run of the year (matching the number on her back), a two-run shot, to cut the deficit to 5-3. However, a Taylor Gilligan (Jr.-Medford, N.J.) solo smash in the top of the sixth provided an always-important insurance run to give Dominican a three-run cushion.

Sara Gedeon (Fr.-Hudson, Ohio) took home the pitching victory for Dominican (4.2 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 2 K). Jennifer Paride (Jr.-Stonington, Conn.) came in to pitch 2.1 innings of hitless relief (1 BB, 1 K) to earn the save. O'Neil finished the year at 17-11 after lasting three frames in the finale (5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, BB, K).

Hughes's 12 triples not only shattered the Lions' single-season mark of seven, they put her just one away from the career high of 13, set by Alyssa Paradiso (2012-15).