March 4, 2014 – The Cougar softball team had two games on Tuesday and hoped to avoid putting themselves in the tough situations that caused the 1-1 split on the opening day of the season. Instead of a doubleheader against the same team in Titusville, Florida, they played two teams that they will play again on Wednesday.

The first match-up was against Madonna University, an NAIA school from Michigan. An error and a controversial umpiring decision ended with one poor inning in an otherwise solid game and a 9-0 loss. Mirroring the first day of the season the Cougars roared back with a stellar second game against Shawnee State University from Ohio, another NAIA institution, and won 1-0 behind the NACC Pitcher of the Week, sophomore Meghan Johnson (Glendale Heights, IL/Glenbard West) with her second consecutive complete game shutout. The Cougars are 2-2 on the season.
 
Head Coach Sarah O-Malley-Fisher said, "We want to play strong competition now to prepare us for the conference portion of the season, and we want to continue to improve game-by-game as this close-knit team continues to grow together and battle for each other on the field."
 
In the first game of the day against Madonna University, they ran up against a tough pitcher in Bree Crampton who pitched a perfect game with 13 strikeouts from the 15 batters she faced. CUC battled tough and shut the Crusaders out except for a series of plays in a single inning. After an error, which was followed by a close call from the umpires, CUC allowed nine unearned runs that accounted for the entire game's scoring. The adversity gave the Cougars focus, and the coaching staff emphasized maintaining concentration as they instructed the team between games.
 
The second game of the day against Shawnee State was a pitcher's duel with Johnson earning her second win of the season. After the game, when asked about her pitching performance in the close game, Johnson said, "One of my goals coming into this year is to stay composed through the entire game. I worked on it in the offseason in the bullpen, and it is paying off so far."
 
The pitchers were the star attraction on the day with Shawnee State managing to advance a runner to third base in the fourth inning but failing to score. In the fifth, the Cougars returned the favor with a leadoff walk from Haley Kalinichenko (Scottsdale, AZ/Horizon). Hannah Solyom (Lombard, IL/Walther Lutheran) sacrificed her to second, but the threat would end there as the Bears' pitcher retired the next two batters.
 
In the sixth, it got a bit interesting as both teams had retired to their respective dugouts when the umpires convened and determined that the top of the inning was not over. The Bears' batter promptly took advantage of her second chance and singled to left, but the Cougars remained steadfast and closed it out. CUC was fired up and came out in the bottom of the sixth ready to seize the lead. Jenni Jensen (Chicago, IL/Luther North) led off with a single, and Allie Bochat (Crystal Lake, IL/Crystal Lake South) sacrificed her to second base. Emilia Vowell (Peotone, IL/Peotone) doubled to left, but Jensen was held at third base. Michelle Alexander (Tinley Park, IL/Andrew) hit the ball sharply to the shortstop and reached first on the ensuing error as Jensen scored for CUC to take a 1-0 lead. A fielder's choice caught Vowell at the plate and the Cougars didn't get the insurance run they were looking for in the sixth.
 
However, through superb fielding by the Cougars, they were able to snuff out an attempted rally in the seventh. The leadoff batter flied out to deep centerfield and only the incoming wind kept the ball in the park for Solyom to run down with a tremendous catch. A ground out to the steady glove of Jensen was followed by two singles, but another groundout, this time to Vowell at second, finished the game.
 
Coach O'Malley-Fisher said after the game, "I thought Meghan Johnson did a fantastic job in the circle, and it started there with pitching. Defensively, we played the game at a much better pace as we were more aggressive and took control of the game instead of letting the game come to us. It was great to see that mentality take hold."
 
The next set of games will be Wednesday, March 5 with a second game each against Madonna University and Shawnee State. The games will be available to follow along on the livestats link which can be found at www.cucougars.com.