May 2, 2011 - Put into a pressure situation, the Concordia Cougar softball team sparkled like diamonds this afternoon. Needing to win two games today or close up shop for the 2011 season, the Cougars beat Edgewood College 7-4 and 5-0. The wins enabled Concordia to clinch sixth place and claim a spot in the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament which begins this Thursday at Alverno College in Milwaukee.
Concordia's tournament appearance will be their first since the final season of the old Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference. The Cougars' best record in the first four seasons of the NAC was 10-14, but today's pair of victories put the Cougars at 13-11 (15-20 overall).
Interestingly, 13-11 is also the record for sophomore
Sami DeFord (South Bend, IN/Marian) after she earned both the wins in the pitching circle today. DeFord overcame a shaky start to game one and did not allow the Eagles a run after the third inning. She was in complete control in game two, holding Edgewood to just two singles in recording the clinching win.
In game one, the Cougars' hitting star was second baseman
Megan White (Oak Park, IL/Oak Park-River Forest). White doubled home a run in the bottom of the first after Jessica Spitzer had given the visitors a 2-0 lead with a two-run homer. After Edgewood added another run in the third, White came to the plate with a runner aboard and smashed her team-leading fifth homer of the year, a deep shot to left-center where the fences meet. White's blast tied the game at 3-3.
The Cougars took charge with four runs in the fifth.
Michelle Ciric (DesPlaines, IL/Elk Grove) led off with a single. White drew a one-out walk, and
Cassie Slechta (Berwyn, Il/Walther Lutheran) hit a line drive just over the third baseman's glove to score Ciric.
Clarissa Gieseke (Roselle, IL/Lake Park) then picked on an outside pitch and drove it to the fence in right-center. Gieseke was held to a single, but White came around to score the second run of the frame. With two out,
Corinne Kuhn (Warrenville, IL/Wheaton-Warrenville South) provided two key insurance runs as she ripped a line drive between the fielders in left-center. Slechta and Gieseke scored to put Concordia up 7-3.
Edgewood scored a run in the top of the sixth and then put the pressure on when they loaded the bases in the seventh. However, DeFord retired cleanup hitter Pam Sommer on a ground ball to second and put the Cougars halfway to their goal.
Concordia went on the attack in their first at-bat of the nightcap
. Leadoff batter
Olivia Hires (Denver, CO/Bear Creek) reached base on an error. Golden singled with one out and, moments later, Slechta made the error hurt when she lined a double to leftfield. Both runners scored to give the Cougars an early two-run lead.
The lead doubled in the third. Hires and Ciric started the rally with singles to put runners at the corners. Golden's fly ball to deep rightfield brought Hires home and moved Ciric to third. White then singled to score Ciric and make the score Concordia 4, Edgewood 0.
Golden gave the Cougars their final tally in the fifth. She led off with a single, moved to second on a wild pitch, took third on a ground out and scored on the second wild pitch of the inning.
With the team's excitement reaching its peak, DeFord closed out the game in fine fashion in the seventh. She retired Sommer on a line drive to center for the first out. DeFord then snuck a third strike past Carlene DeCoster and got DJ Endres to pop up to White, touching off a celebration on the field.
The Cougars will play the number three seed in Thursday's 5:00 game. At this time, that seed is undetermined; the possibilities for the first-round opponent include Concordia Wisconsin, Aurora or Benedictine. For updated information on the tournament bracket, fans should go to the official tournament website at
http://northernac.org/web-2010/sports/softball/tournament/.
