April 20, 2019 - The Concordia-Chicago softball team hosted Senior Day this afternoon on a beautiful spring day with clear skies and temperatures pushing into the sixties. The stage was set for a perfect day, but someone forgot to tell the visiting Milwaukee School of Engineering Raiders. The Raiders' pitching locked down the CUC bats for much of the day, and the MSOE hitters belted some timely home runs as they swept the doubleheader, 7-3 and 4-1.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• The three CUC seniors combined for 6-14 (.429) at the plate with three runs scored, a homer and three RBIs.
• Both teams were swinging the bats, as they combined for just six walks (two intentional) the entire day.
• The Cougars' defense turned two line drives into double plays, one in each game.

Two of the three CUC seniors got the ball rolling in the first inning of game one. Melissa Balkema led off with a single past third base. She was sacrificed to second and came around to score on Marita Van Dyke's crisp single to center.

Kim White evened the score with a homer to left in the second inning. The Raiders then struck for single runs in the next two innings as well. They strung together three singles in the third and added a run in the fourth on White's RBI single. The Cougars came back in the bottom of the inning, however, as senior Sydney Getz got into the act with a towering homer to left to make it 3-2. Kristen Landon then singled and made it to second as the MSOE second baseman droppe the throw from the shortstop on a potential double-play ball. Shania Phillips was next, and she grounded a single between third and short. Landon raced around third and beat the throw home to tie the game at 3-3.

The Raiders took back the game over the next two innings. Kara McKenna led off the MSOE fourth with a homer ro right-center. Then, in the fifth, the first two Raiders reached base before Emma Megal unloaded a three-run homer to left-center for a 7-3 lead. That would be the final score as the Cougars would be unable to muster any more offense in game one.

Hoping to salvage game two. CUC struck first in their initial at-bat. Balkema bunted for a hit. Sydney Sterrett then looked to sacrifice Balkema over, and Sterrett got a bonus as the throw to first was in the dirt and got past the first baseman. Balkema raced to third on the play, and she would score when Van Dyke lifted a sacrifice fly to center.

The Raiders tied the game in the fourth. The first two batters reached before Kate Roberts got the next two batters out. White kept the inning alive with a walk to load the bases, and Megal then lined a single to center. One run scored, but the runner from second rounded third base too far, and Taylor Kulaszewicz and Getz combined to tag her out before she could get back to third.

The Cougars looked to take the lead in the sixth when Sterrett led off with a base hit. She was sacrificed to second, but MSOE's game-one winning pitcher bore down and got out of the jam with a strikeout and a fly to center.

MSOE came up to bat for the decisive seventh. With one out, a pair of hits had the Raiders in business. Holly Bathje struck out the next batter for the second out, but McKenna came up next and ripped a pitch to left field that quickly left the yard for a 4-1 lead.

CUC looked to put together a last-ditch rally with two out. Phillips hit a ball that came high off the wall in center for a double. Balkema followed with a double down the left field line for a run, and all of a sudden, CUC had the tying run at bat. However, Pondo induced Sterrett to ground to third base for the final out, sealing the sweep for the Raiders.

The Cougars (17-11, 7-7 NACC) will be home on Monday afternoon at 3 p.m. for a doubleheader against the conference-leading Concordia Wisconsin Falcons.