April 7, 2013 - One easy win and one hard-fought win marked the Cougar softball team's Sunday afternoon action against the Milwaukee School of Engineering. Concordia rolled to an 8-0 win in game one, but it took some late-game heroics in game two to pull out a 2-1 victory.
The Cougars pounced on the Raiders early in game one on walks to
Olivia Hires (Denver, CO/Bear Creek) and
Allie Bochat (Crystal Lake, IL/Crystal Lake South), and a base hit by
Meghan Johnson (Glendale Heights, IL/Glenbard West).
Jennie Jensen (Chicago, IL/Luther North) was up next, and she hit a rocket down the leftfield line. The ball hit up on the fence for a two-run double and a 2-0 lead.
Sami DeFord (South Bend, IN/Marian) followed with a bunt toward first base. A close play at first went to DeFord as Bochat scored. Taking advantage of a lapse of attention by the pitcher who was walking back to the circle, Jensen sped around third and scored the fourth run of the inning.
Concordia added to the lead in the second. An error and two singles loaded the bases for Bochat whose liner to the gap in left-center rolled to the fence for a two-run double. Jensen brought home one more run on a sacrifice fly as the Cougars went to the third inning with a 7-0 lead.
Run number eight scored in the fourth inning. Johnson singled and advanced on a passed ball. DeFord then doubled to the leftfield corner for her third RBI of the game.
Alicia Salata (Bartlett, IL/H.S.) finished off the rout by setting down the Raiders 1-2-3 in the fifth. The freshman earned her second win of the season in allowing just two hits and no walks while striking out five.
Game two featured a pitchers' duel between Concordia's Johnson and MSOE's Jill VandeBoom. The Cougars broke through in the third.
Caitlin Richards (Chicago, IL/Mother McAuley) singled and was replaced on the bases by Hires on a fielder's choice. Hires stole second base and moved to third as the catcher's throw sailed into centerfield. With two out, Johnson ripped a single back up the middle for the 1-0 lead.
The Cougars scored what proved to be the decisive run in the sixth. Johnson walked with one out and Bochat singled her to third. Jensen's ground ball was fielded by the shortstop, but the only play was at second base as Johnson crossd the plate.
Samantha Herold led off the seventh with a single, just the Raiders' second hit of the game to that point. Kate Ready's bunt was then mishandled at first base as everybody was safe. Lauren Boyle's single between third and short put the visitors on the board and put the tying run on second with no outs.
DeFord came in to pitch and struck out Mikala Wendt. The drama heightened as a passed ball moved both runners up a base. But DeFord struck out Caitlin Gusk and Rebecca Gardner to close out an exciting win.
With the sweep, the Cougars finished out a 3-1 weekend against conference foes and improved to 4-6 in the NAC, 7-16 overall. Concordia will play at Wisconsin Lutheran College on Wednesday.
