April 14, 2012 - Excellent outings by Sami DeFord (South Bend, IN/Marian) and Sarah Dec (Norridge, IL/Guerin Prep), along with just enough timely hitting enable the Concordia-Chicago softball Cougars to defeat Rockford College 3-2 and 5-1 in today's Northern Athletics Conference softball doubleheader in River Forest.
Early on, it did not appear as if the day would go so smoothly for the Cougars. Rockford's Alyssa Novak led off the game by reaching base on an error. That miscue would cost the Cougars as Nicole Lawler's double and Alexis Jones' single produced a pair of two-out runs.
Concordia's bats were silent through the first three innings. However, Jenni Jensen (Chicago, IL/Luther North) singled to lead off the fourth. Taylor Golden (Chicago, IL/Trinity) walked, and Cassie Slechta (Berwyn, IL/Walther Lutheran) singled to put the Cougars' first run on the board. Clarissa Gieseke (Roselle, IL/Lake Park) was next, and her bunt in front of the plate was deadened just enough that Rockford's only play was at first base. Golden crossed the plate to tie the game at 2-2.
DeFord stranded a Regents' runner at third to end the top of the sixth, and she helped herself even more as the Cougars came to bat. Golden led off with a single and was sacrificed to second. Gieseke flew to center for the second out, but DeFord hit a hard smash past the shortstop as Golden came around with the go-ahead run.
Armed with the one-run lead, DeFord retired the first two batters in the seventh on ground balls. The next batter reached on an error to extend the inning, but DeFord got Jossilyn Jones on a grounder to third to give Concordia the first game of the twinbill.
DeFord evened her record at 6-6 with a five-strikeout performance. She allowed just the two unearned runs on five hits and did not walk a batter.
In game two, Dec and Rockford's Sarah Moritz each alllowed just one hit through the first three innings. Dec worked around a leadoff single in the fourth, keeping the game scoreless as the Cougars came to bat. Jensen reached on an infield single and moved to second on DeFord's one-out single. Tracy Bonaccorsi (Lombard, IL/Montini Catholic) hit for Dec and laced the first pitch for a single to right. The throw home was too late to catch Jensen as both runners moved up a base. The heads-up baserunning paid off as Olivia Hires (Denver, CO/Bear Creek) lined a two-out double to center, scoring both runners. Renee Benjamin (Chicago, IL/Mather) followed with a sharp single to center as Hires came across for a 4-0 lead.
With two out in the fifth, Dec ran into trouble as three consecutive singles loaded the bases. Dec then walked Jones on a 3-1 pitch to force in a run. That spelled the end of Dec's day as head coach Alison Haehnel called upon Andrea Kelly (Elk Grove, CA/Laguna Creek). Kelly doused the visitors' rally, getting Jennifer Zulcanycz to ground to Golden for the force play at third.
The Cougars got the run back in the bottom of the inning. Jensen was hit by a pitch and went to second on a wild pitch. She scored when DeFord came through with another two-out RBI, a single to right-center.
Dec earned the win (3-1), allowing the one run on five hits in her 4 2/3 innings. Kelly pitched 1 1/3 in relief, and DeFord closed things out by getting the final three outs.
Concordia (10-18, 8-6 NAC) will play conference-leading Benedictine University on Tuesday afternoon in Lisle.
