March 30, 2013 - The Concordia Cougar softball team finally saw the home field this afternoon with a pair of Northern Athletics Conference games against Alverno College. Concordia took game one 1-0 behind the splendid pitching of
Sami DeFord (South Bend, IN/Marian), but Alverno came from behind to gain the split with a 4-3 victory in game two.
DeFord held the Inferno to two hits in evening her record at 1-1 for the season. Stef Wilmore led off the second inning with a double, but DeFord kept her there with a pop-up to shortstop and two ground-ball outs. Alverno's only other baserunner came on a one-out single by Megan Rossi in the fifth, but DeFord retired the next two batters to keep the visitors scoreless. DeFord finished the game facing just two batters over the minimum.
Alverno's Jamie Villalobos matched DeFord for much of the game, but Concordia broke through in the bottom of the sixth.
Olivia Hires (Denver, CO/Bear Creek) led off with a single to right.
Andrea Kelly (Elk Grove, CA/Laguna Creek) moved Hires to second with a perfectly placed sacrifice. Villalobos then issued her only walk of the game, a four-pitch pass to
Meghan Johnson (Glendale Heights, IL/Glenbard West). First baseman
Allie Bochat (Crystal Lake, IL/Crystal Lake South) was up next, and she shot a 1-0 pitch past the third baseman down the line. Johnson moved into second while Hires came around to score without a throw.
DeFord finished off her gem by getting two groundouts and a pop-up in the seventh. She struck out three while lowering her ERA to 2.53 over 19 innings.
The Cougars went for the sweep in game two with Johnson taking her place in the pitcher's circle. The freshman pitched well but was let down by some shaky defense. Alverno opened the scoring in the second as two errors led to a run coming in on an infield out. However, Concordia got the run right back as
Jenni Jensen (Chicago, IL/Luther North) led off with a base hit, advanced to third on DeFord's sacrifice and scored on
Alicia Salata's (Bartlett, IL/H.S.) grounder to shortstop.
Caitlin Richards (Chicago, IL/Mother McAuley) got the Cougars going again with one out in the fifth as she singled between third and short. Hires then ripped a shot to leftfield in which the fielder just missed on a diving effort, the ball going for a double. Kelly grounded to second, scoring Richards and advancing Hires to third. Hires then scored when Johnson ripped a single back up the middle for a 3-1 lead.
An infield error began Alverno's half of the sixth inning. Villalobos followed with a bunt single, and Erika Wotnoske's sacrifice moved the runners up. Ashleigh Sagat then lined a double to rightfield to score both runners and tie the game. DeFord took over in the circle, but a passed ball allowed Sagat to move to third. Stef Wilmore then looped a single into short leftfield to score Sagat for the 4-3 lead.
Concordia was unable to answer against Villalobos who had come back in to pitch and get the last out of the fifth inning. Villalobos retired the Cougars 1-2-3 in each of the last two innings to record the win and salvage the split for the Inferno (7-3, 1-1 NAC).
The Cougars (4-12, 1-3 NAC) will host Aurora University in a doubleheader on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
