River Forest, Ill. – After locking up a spot in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament yesterday with the sweep of Wisconsin Lutheran, the Concordia University Chicago Cougar took to the field one final time at home this season. Their opponent would be the Marian University Sabres. CUC held a lead in both games, but Marian would be able to rally in both contests, taking both games from the Cougars by scores of 2-1 and 12-7.
 
In game one, the pitching ruled the day as both teams top arms battled. The Cougars were finally able to break through in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Stefanie D'Anna reached on an infield single. After Marita Van Dyke was hit by a pitch, Sydney Getz singled through the left side to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead.
 
That score remained until the seventh inning. With one out in the top of the seventh, a single put the tying run on base for Marian. Payton Loesch then played hero with the two run homer to center field on a 0-1 pitch. The Cougars were unable to build a rally in the seventh, falling by a 2-1 score.
 
Van Dyke took the hard luck loss in game one, allowing just two earned runs while striking out four. D'Anna led the offense with two hits in the game and one run scored.
 
In game two, the Cougars were able to jump out to an early lead. In the bottom of the first, Melissa Balkema led off with a single to left. D'Anna followed with her second triple of the season to open the scoring. A sac fly by Van Dyke gave the Cougars a 2-0 lead after one.
 
Marian cut the lead in half with a solo homer in the top of the second. The Cougars were able to answer though in the bottom of the inning with a run of their own. Kristen Landon led off the inning with a single up the middle. After a sac bunt put Landon in scoring position, a Katie Sullivan single made it 3-1 Cougars.
 
The Sabres made it 3-2 in the top of the fourth on a sac fly, but again CUC was up to the challenge in the bottom half of the inning. Again it was Landon leading off with a single to center. With two outs and Landon on third, Shania Phillips doubled down the right field line scoring Landon. After a wild pitch put Phillips on third, Balkem singled through the left side to make it 5-2 CUC after four.
 
Unfortunately for the Cougars, the Sabres were able to put up six runs on eight hits to take the lead back in the fifth at 8-5. A three run homer in the sixth then pushed the Marian lead to 11-5 and a manufactured run made it 12-5.
 
The Cougars worked to rally in the seventh, getting a two RBI single by Allison Kruk to get back within five, but were unable to sustain the inning, falling by a 12-7 final score.
 
The Cougars (24-13; 15-7 NACC) close out the regular season as the fourth place team in the NACC. They will take on the fifth seed on Thursday in Milwaukee. That opponent will be decided on Monday. First pitch of the tournament for CUC is set for 12:00pm.