NEW CASTLE, Del. – Gianna Abruzese's three perfect innings of relief allowed USciences to erase a 4-0 deficit in a 5-4 game one triumph, and a six-run fourth propelled the Devils to a 7-4 victory in the nightcap, as the softball program swept Wilmington for the first time since 2010 on Wednesday.
The sweep extended University of the Sciences' win streak to six games, its longest since winning eight in a row from April 6-15, 2013.
Game One
University of the Sciences was trailing 4-0 entering the fifth and 4-1 entering the sixth, before the Devils scored in each of their final three at-bats.
Abbigail Markee's one-out triple led to USciences' first run when Taylor Hamm came through with a clutch two-out single, but momentum seemed to be lost when the Devils stranded the bases loaded for a second time later on.
Abruzese stole it back with the first of three consecutive 1-2-3 frames though, and Lauren Del Giudice's one-out single got the sixth started.
Gabrielle Simms followed with a hit-by-pitch before a Markee RBI single cut the deficit to just one, as an error allowed Del Giudice to follow Simms home.
Following an Ashley Steiner single and Hamm base on balls, Gabriella Polera tied the score at 4-4 with a sacrifice fly, and Abruzese got USciences back in the dugout with three consecutive groundouts in the bottom-half.
Del Giudice and Simms were once again involved in the game-winning run, as they followed Miranda Rodriguez's one-out single with back-to-back singles of their own to give the Devils their first lead of the day.
Abruzese made sure it stuck, as she completed nine up and nine down to put a stamp on her first career win.
Steiner and Hamm both reached base three times, with Steiner recording her second three-hit performance in three games and Hamm finishing 1-for-2 with two walks.
Markee and Del Giudice both went 2-for-4, combining for three of the USciences' five runs.
Simms scored another, moving into third in program history as it was the 83rd of her career.
Game Two
The six-run fourth began with an out, but Hamm quickly tied the score at 2-2 with a home run in the next at-bat.
That was the first of six consecutive Devils to reach, as a Polera double, Danielle Jones walk and Nina Cencetti single loaded the bases.
Rodriguez gave University of the Sciences the lead for good with her RBI single, and Del Giudice and Simms followed with RBIs of their own for a 5-2 advantage.
The Devils were not done there though as Markee put an exclamation point on the frame with a two-RBI single that proved to be unneeded insurance.
Starter Paige Schlechter continued to settle in with a second consecutive scoreless inning in the bottom-half, before working her first 1-2-3 frame in the fifth.
Wilmington (4-2 CACC) did pull to within three with a two-RBI double in the sixth, but Olivia Quercia came out for the seventh and worked around a one-out single to set the program's Division II-era program record with her third save of the season, highlighted by two strikeouts.
Schlechter improved to 4-5 as she won her third consecutive start.
Hamm's home run was the seventh of her career, now sixth in program history. She scored USciences' first run in the second, coming home on a Polera double after she had led off with a walk.
Polera led the offense by going 2-for-3 with that RBI, as well as a run scored in the six-run fourth.
Up Next
University of the Sciences faces yet another league unbeaten this Saturday, when it hosts defending CACC champion Georgian Court for a doubleheader at 12 p.m.
