March 5, 2014 – The Cougar softball team played two games against the same opponents from yesterday in Titusville, Florida. The first matchup was against Madonna University, an NAIA school from Michigan. The Cougars improved their performance from yesterday, but still fell just short by a 3-0 score. Concordia looked to come back in the second game against Shawnee State from Ohio and  looked good until the sixth inning when the game got away from them, Shawnee State winning by a final of 8-0.
 
In the first game of the day against Madonna, the Cougars sent Meghan Johnson (Glendale Heights, IL/Glenbard West) to the mound to go up against the troublesome Crusaders' bats from the day before. Unfortunately, Madonna ended Johnson's scoreless streak on the season in the first inning as they plated a run. They followed up with two insurance runs in the fourth inning.
 
In the third inning, the Cougars stranded Haley Kalinichenko (Scottsdale, AZ/Horizon) on third after she led off with a single and stole second. The following inning, Andrea Kelly (Elk Grove, CA/Laguna Creek) was the leadoff batter and reached first on an error before stealing second, but she was also stranded in scoring position. The last push by the Cougars came in the sixth inning where Johnson led off the inning with a double to deep centerfield. Kelly followed it up by drawing a walk. Unfortunately, they were not able to push any runs over the plate, and the game ended with the three-run final margin.
 
The second game of the day against Shawnee State was close most of the way as Alicia Salata (Bartlett, IL/Bartlett) started and only had two hiccups. A wind-aided homerun to left field in the second opened the scoring, and a wild pitch that allowed a runner to reach home from third base in the fourth accounted for the second run.
 
The bats were not in full throttle to help the pitching efforts as the best chances to score came early. In the second, Emilia Vowell (Peotone, IL/Peotone) led off with a single and Michelle Alexander (Tinley Park, IL/Andrew) reached on an error, but both runners were stranded. Their next opportunity came in the third inning when Kelly and Jenni Jensen (Chicago, IL/Luther North) both singled but were left on base. The game was close until the bottom of the sixth inning when Shawnee State put on the full press, plating six runs to end the game on the mercy rule.
 
Coach Sarah O'Malley-Fisher said after the game, "I thought we played better defensively today and that we are learning what it takes to be successful against tough competition. This will help us as we battle through our conference schedule."
 
The next set of games will be Friday, March 7 with a double header against Finlandia University. The games will be available to follow along on the Livestats link at www.cucougars.com.