March 27, 2013 - The Concordia Cougars opened Northern Athletics Conference play today against Dominican University. The local rivals treated the fans to two close and exciting contests, but both games went the way of the Stars in the end, 2-1 in ten innings of game one and 7-5 in game two.
Game one featured a sterling pitchers' duel between the Cougars'
Sami DeFord (South Bend, IN/Marian) and the Starts' Emily Mahoney. Each pitcher allowed just one hit through the first five innings, DeFord getting the Stars to pound the ball into the ground regulary.
The game was still scoreless entering the seventh when
Meghan Johnson (Glendale Heights, IL/Glenbard West) led off with her third homer of the season, a shot that cleared the fence in right-center. Hits by
Allie Bochat (Crystal Lake, IL/Crystal Lake South) and
Jenni Jensen (Chicago, IL/Luther North) followed, but the Cougars were unable to score the insurance runs.
A leadoff walk set the stage for Dominican's tying run in the bottom of the seventh. Andrea Pinarski advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jensen made a nice play to get an out at first, but Pinarski made third on the play. Pinch-hitter Erica King then hit a slow bouncer to third, and Johnson's only play was at first as Pinarski scored the tying run.
Concordia put runners on base in each of the next three innings but could not push any of them across the plate. Dominican scored the game-winner in the tenth on a leadoff hit by Sara Hausl, a sacrifice bunt and a two-out hit by Mahoney.
In game two, the Cougars jumped out in front immediately as
Olivia Hires (Denver, CO/Bear Creek) led off the game with a homer to right-center. Concordia added to its lead in the second on back-to-back doubles by DeFord and
Sarah James (Riverside, IL/Riverside-Brookfield) and then made it 3-0 in the third on
Caitlin Richards' (Chicago, IL/Mother McAuley) first homer of the year, a shot to straightaway center.
Dominican erased the visitors' lead with five runs in the fourth. All the runs came with two out and were unearned against Concordia starter
Alicia Salata (Bartlett, IL/H.S.).
The Cougars came right back in the next inning, Salata drilled a hit to right that skipped past the fielder and went for a triple. Hires rapped a base hit up the middle to score Salata. Hires would later score on a throwing error by the Stars' catcher to tie the game at 5-5.
The deciding runs came in the bottom of the fifth. Melissa Summaria led off with a base hit, and Kaitlin Barajas hit a long homer over the centerfield fence.
Concordia (3-11, 0-2 NAC) will play their first two home games of the season on Saturday when they host Alverno College beginning at noon.
