ATLANTA -- A one-run loss for the second straight day eliminated the University of Delaware softball squad from the Colonial Athletic Association championships Friday afternoon as the Blue Hens suffered a 3-2 setback in nine innings to UNC Wilmington at Georgia State’s Bob Heck Field.

UNC Wilmington leftfielder Whitney Knudsen stroked a two-out, run-scoring single to leftfield in the top of the ninth inning to lift the Seahawks to the victory and earned them a spot in Friday’s second elimination game set for 3 p.m. against the loser of Friday’s noon game between Hofstra and host Georgia State. UNC Wilmington, the No. 3 seed, had moved to the elimination round after suffering a 19-0 setback in five innings to No. 2 seed Hofstra in the opening round Thursday.

No. 4 seed Delaware, making its first trip to CAA Tournament since 2004, ended the season on a three-game losing streak and finished with a record of 33-24, the second highest win total in school history and most since the 2000 team won a school record 36 games. Delaware battled host and CAA regular season champion Georgia State the entire way in Thursday’s first-round game before dropping a 6-5 decision.

UNC Wilmington (33-27), which set a school record for wins in a season, pounded out 12 hits against Delaware hurlers Lindsay Jones and Carolynn Sloat (19-15) while pitcher Jennifer Bosley (17-13) struck out eight Delaware batters and held the Blue Hens to just five hits. Sloat failed in her second attempt to become just the second pitcher in UD history to record 20 wins for a season.

Designated hitter Barb Traynor and third baseman Michelle Plant (at right) each delivered two hits and an RBI for the Blue Hens but it wasn’t enough to match the Seahawks, who got two hits from four different players.

UNC Wilmington jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning as Bosley scored on an error by Delaware first baseman Jessica Kozlowski and Meghan Murray delivered a run scoring single to right field.

Delaware came back to even things at 2-2 in the fourth innning. Katie Lee led off with a single, stole second base, and scored on a single up the middle by Traynor for the Hens’ first run. Traynor later advanced to second on an error by third baseman Krista Searle and scored on an RBI single by Plant to the gap in rightfield.

Neither team scored again until UNC Wilmington produced the eventual game-winner in the ninth as Bosley led off with a single, advanced to second on a hit by Brittany Wilkins, moved to third on a groundout, and scored on Knudsen’s base-hit.

Delaware had the chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh when the Blue Hens loaded the bases with two outs, but Lee flied out to centerfield to send the game into extra innings. UNC Wilmington ended a UD threat by turning a double play in the eighth and then put the Hens down in order in the ninth to end the second longest game in CAA Tournament history.

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