April 1, 2012 - The Concordia-Chicago softball team looked to shake off yesterday's losses to Concordia Wisconsin with today's doubleheader against the Milwaukee School of Engineering. The Cougars absorbed a tough 3-2 loss to the host Raiders in game one but rebounded admirably with a 4-3 victory in the nightcap.
The Cougars collected seven hits through the first six innings of game one but were unable to bring any of them around to score. Five of the runners were left in scoring position with the Cougars unable to get the big hit against MSOE's Jessica Iversen.
The Raiders owned a 2-0 lead courtesy of single runs in the third and fourth, but the Cougars erased the lead in the seventh.
Caitlin Richards (Chicago, IL/Mother McAuley) began the rally with a one-out single.
Olivia Hires (Denver, CO/Bear Creek) singled, moving Richards to second. Iversen struck out
Andrea Kelly (Elk Grove, CA/Laguna Creek) for the second out but hit
Taylor Golden (Chicago, IL/Trinity) with a pitch to load the bases.
Cassie Slechta (Berwyn, IL/Walther Lutheran) then came up with the clutch hit as she doubled to left-center, scoring Richards and Hires to tie the game.
Unfortunately, the Cougars could not push across the go-ahead run, and the Raiders came to bat in the seventh. A single and an error put two runners aboard with one out. Elise Pinkerton then ended the game with a double to right.
In game two, it was Concordia that scored first on consecutive singles by Richards, Kelly and
Clarissa Gieseke (Roselle, IL/Lake Park). The lead increased to 3-0 in the fourth on
Jenni Jensen's (Chicago, IL/Luther North) double. Her hit scored Gieseke and
Moira Quinlan (Franklin Park, IL/East Leyden) who had both reached on singles.
The Cougars' fourth run and eventual winning run came in the fifth as Slechta led off with her second homer of the season, a blast to left-center.
The Raiders got on the board with a run in the sixth and then heightened the drama in the seventh. A one-out double by Annie Thomas scored two runs and put the tying run in scoring position. But Kelly retired Pinkerton on a liner to third for the second out. The next batter walked but Kelly got Julie Windish on a comebacker to put the Cougars back in the win column.
Concordia (5-15, 3-3 NAC) will continued conference play Tuesday afternoon when they take on Aurora University.
