(Courtesy of CACC Athletics)
LAKEWOOD, N.J.-- Wilmington University needed to win three times on Saturday if it were to hoist the 2019 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Softball Championship Trophy, and the Wildcats did just that by going a perfect 3-for-3 during the day, including back-to-back wins in the final over Georgian Court University at SEI Investments Field in Lakewood, N.J.
It took nine innings and 10 hits for the Wildcats to come back from a 4-1 deficit in the day's finale to capture the 2019 CACC Championship over Georgian Court.
Kiana Broderson-Jones would give the Wildcats an early lead in the top of the first inning with a single up the middle to score
Rosa'Lynn Burton to make it a 1-0 game going into the Lions' first at bats.
Georgian Court was not fazed and plated four runs in the bottom of the first with a pair of two-run homers from
Samantha Salomon and
Eryka Springer. The four runs chased WilmU starter
Makayla McCarthy, who was pulled in favor of
Caitlyn Whiteside. That switch by WilmU head coach
Mike Shehorn proved to be the turning point in the contest, as the hurler stymied the GCU lineup the rest of the afternoon in not allowing a run. With Whiteside posting zeroes on the scoreboard, Wilmington's offense was able to get its footing back and complete the extra-inning comeback victory.
Whiteside went 8.2 IP, allowing four hits, no runs, and three strikeouts. The senior from Bermuda Dunes, Calif., would go on to earn the CACC Tournament MVP award after her dominating performances throughout the tournament.
Wilmington would slowly fight back against the 4-1 deficit, starting in the top of the third inning. With two outs in the inning and Burton on second base,
Annie Davila would hit an RBI single to left to score Burton, before
Lauren Lopez followed her with her own single up the middle and bring the deficit to within one, making it 4-3.
WilmU would have a chance to score again in the top of the fifth with runners on second and third, but could not come through. It wasn't until the top of the sixth that
Alyssa Velasquez started the inning with a leadoff single up the middle.
Whiteside would try and move Velasquez on a sacrifice bunt, but would end up reaching first to put her and Velasquez on without any outs.
Kiersten Comer looked to get in the action as a pinch hitter, as she reached on a fielding error from the shortstop to load the bases up for
Angela Antonini. Antonini would come up big, hitting a sacrifice fly out to right to score Velasquez and tie the ballgame up at 4-4.
With a runner on second in the bottom of the sixth, Broderson-Jones made a perfect throw to Antonini at the plate to get the runner out at home on a single to center to keep the game tied heading into the seventh inning. The Lions had another opportunity in the bottom of the seventh, but Whiteside was able to get out of a first and third situation with a foul out to left field and force extra innings.
One-two-three innings for both teams in the eighth would force a ninth inning. With two outs in the top of the ninth, leadoff hitter Burton did what she does best and laid down a bunt single to third, before stealing second to put herself in scoring position for  Broderson-Jones. Originally she was hit by a pitch and was awarded first, but was called off, as the umpires made a consensus that it hit her bat to bring her back to the plate. Unhappy with the call, the freshman came up big for the Wildcats with a single to left field, which would score Burton and give the Wildcats the go-ahead run, making it 5-4.
Just needing three outs, Whiteside would get the first two batters on a fly out and a strikeout looking to bring the Lions down to their final batter. With a 1-1 count, Whiteside would get the batter to pop up into foul territory and start the celebration.
 Georgian Court (45-9) now must wait until Monday at 10:00 a.m. to see if its season continues with an at-large berth in next week's NCAA Division II regional tournament. The selection will be webcast live atÂ
https://www.ncaa.com/sports/softball/d2.
