April 1, 2017- The Concordia-Chicago softball team took the field this afternoon on a beautiful spring day to begin Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play as they took on Benedictine University. The class of the NACC, the Eagles have won five conference titles in ten years, so CUC knew they had a tough task ahead of them as they had not won against BenU in the last five seasons. Game one didn't go as planned for the Cougars, but they continued to follow their scouting report to manage a split against Benedictine.
Game one wasn't ideal for Concordia-Chicago to start off NACC play as they only managed to score one run on four hits off Benedictine's ace Holly Haberkorn. The Eagles first four hitters in the lineup did the most damage against the Cougars as they combined to go 5-15, three runs scored, and five RBIs. Even though it didn't fall the Cougars way, junior pitchers
Julianne Nation and
Courtney Pepper continued to follow the game plan that was instilled by coach Golitko to put CUC in a good position for game two as long as they could execute.
The Cougars jumped on the Eagles quickly in game two, wasting no time to get the momentum on their side.
Melissa Balkema began the game with a sharp single to left field. After advancing to second on a groundout, senior third baseman
Michele Alexander drove in Balkema with a single up the middle to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
Allison Kruk continued the CUC first inning going with a bunt single, while advancing to Alexander to third. A stolen base from Kruk,
Marita Van Dyke hit a soft single to score Alexander and give the Cougars a 2-0 lead. CUC closed out the first inning with a Pepper sac fly to center to score Kruk and give CUC an early 3-0 lead before Benedictine even had a chance to hit.
The hot bats continued for the Cougars in the second inning adding to their 3-0 lead.
Sydney Getz started the inning off line drive single to left. After a Balkema walk,
Stefanie D'Anna got the runners over in scoring position with a soft groundout to second. That brought up Alexander, who had the big hit in the first inning for the Cougars. Alexander delivered in the clutch once again with a huge double to right field to score two and give Concordia-Chicago a 5-1 lead after two innings.
In the bottom of the fifth, Benedictine took advantage of two Cougars errors to tie up the game at five. The Eagles got four runs, all of which were unearned, and we had a brand new ballgame. The big inning didn't wreck any confidence the Cougars had as CUC came back with two runs in the top of the sixth to regain the lead. Pepper started the rally with a one out single to center. After a walk to
Katie Sullivan, Pepper and pinch runner
Kristen Landon had a double steal to put two runners in scoring position for Getz. Getz came up big for the Cougars with a two out, two RBI single to put them back on top late in the game.
Concordia-Chicago tacked on an insurance run before drama occurred in the bottom of the seventh. The Eagles got one run in and had the tying run on second, and the winning run on first before Van Dyke was able to get the Eagles' Malsack to popout to Alexander for the last out of the game to give the Cougars the well deserved 8-6 win and split with Benedictine.
The Cougars (10-7, 1-1 NACC) return to action tomorrow as they travel to Aurora, Ill to take on the Spartans of Aurora University in a double-header. First pitch is set for 12:00pm.
