April 4, 2015 – On Monday afternoon, the Concordia-Chicago softball team played a doubleheader against conference opponent Wisconsin Lutheran College at the Rock Sports Complex near Milwaukee.The Cougars swept the series with a close first game, 2-1 in extra innings, and won the second 17-7 in five innings.
 
CUC head coach Sarah O'Malley-Fisher reflected on the sweep and said, "Today was a total team effort. Every player made an impact on the day in some way, shape, or form. Defensively, we got better as the day went on. Our pitchers did their jobs and we hit very well moving runners and hitting he pitches given to us. It was a good day!"
 
In game one, Meghan Johnson (Glendale Heights, IL/Glenbard West) was the starting pitcher and pitched a complete game of eight innings for her fourth consecutive victory. She allowed one run on six hits with four strikeouts and no walks in the game. She also singled in the first Cougar run in the top of the first inning for the early lead. Stefanie D'Anna (LaGrange Park, IL/Lyons Township) singled to lead off the inning and the game, and a Johnson single to rightfield brought her home from second.
 
Wisconsin Lutheran managed the tying run in the bottom of the second inning. Neither team's offense did much after that point as a pitcher's duel ensued. In the top of the fifth, CUC threatened, but did not score and, in the bottom of the fifth, WLC also had unfulfilled potential. The game was tied at the end of seven and went to extra innings where the Cougars prevailed. Allie Bochat (Crystal Lake, IL/Crystal Lake South) led off the inning with a single followed by a Jenni Jensen (Chicago, IL/Luther North) single. Courtney Pepper (South Bend, IN/Penn) came in to pinch-run for Bochat. A groundout to the pitcher moved the runners along, and another to the second baseman scored Pepper. In the bottom of the eighth, Johnson and the CUC defense put out the opposition 1-2-3 to end the inning and the game.
 
In game two, Alicia Salata (Bartlett, IL/H.S.) got her first win of the season as the Cougar bats crushed the opposition 17-7 in just five innings. The bats were on fire starting in the first inning. After a leadoff out, Johnson doubled in a run, Michele Alexander (Tinley Park, IL/Andrew) singled in a run, Salata singled in a run, and Adriana Cura (Romeoville, IL/Plainfield South) doubled in two runs to chase the WLC pitcher from the game. The Cougars were up five runs on six hits in the top of the first with the best yet to come.
 
In the top of the second, Johnson singled in Allison Kruk (Elgin, IL/St Edward) again, for a 6-0 lead. Unfortunately, there were a couple CUC errors in the bottom of the second that helped WLC to four runs to close the gap. The third inning was the calm before the storm as neither team scored.
 
However in the top of the fourth, Concordia-Chicago had their best hitting of the season in scoring ten runs and sending 14 batters to the plate. Johnson drove in three runs in the inning with a two-run double and a sacrifice fly while Salata also added a two-run double. D'Anna and Alexander both drove in runs with singles. .
 
The Cougars added an insurance run in the top of the fifth inning to go up 17-4. However, Wisconsin Lutheran gamely fought back as they managed three runs in the bottom of the fifth to make the final score 17-7. With the wins, CUC improved to 6-13 overall and, more importantly,5-3 in conference play.
 
The next games will renew the Division Street Rivalry as the Cougars host Dominican University on Wednesday, April 8 at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. on the CUC campus in River Forest..