Box Score April 22, 2019 - What looked like it wold be a beautiful day for softball became an incomplete. The Concordia-Chicago Cougars hosted the Concordia Wisconsin Falcons in a doubleheader today, and game one went to the CUW Falcons 7-5 under partly sunny skies. In game two, CUC was on their way to a split with a 4-1 lead after three innings, but clouds rolled in, and the game was halted by lightning. Rain followed shortly afterwards, ensuring that no more softball would be played on Monday. Information regarding the completion of the game is pending.
Game one saw CUW get off to a fast start. With runners on third and second, Jenna Pozezinski hit one to the hole between third and short.
Melissa Balkema dove and got part of the glove on the ball, but the ball trickled away just far enough for both runners to cross the plate for a 2-0 lead. Emma Schimberg's two-out single would plate Pozezinski as the Falcons grabbed a three-run lead.
The Cougars got one run back in their initial at-bat. Balkema reached as the third baseman could not handle a high-hopper.
Sydney Sterrett reached on a walk, and both runners were in scoring position with two out when
Marita Van Dyke lined a single to center. Balkema scored easily, but Sterrett was held at third as the outfielder got the ball back in quickly. The CUW pitcher would then get the third out to keep the score at 3-1 after one inning.
The Falcons threatened in the top of the third with a runner on second and one out. Schimberg hit a fly to deep center that was gloved by
Shania Phillips. The runner took off for third base, but two pinpoint throws by Phillips and Balkema got to
Sydney Getz in time for the tag and the inning-ending double play.
CUC carried the momentum into their at-bats and got the game closer. Sterrett led off with a single and was sacrificed to second by Getz.
Sydney Paulauskis-Lauher followed by going opposite field and placing a hit just inside the right field line. Sterrett raced around to score and make it Falcons 3, Cougars 2.
The Cougars then ambushed the Falcons in the bottom of the fourth. With two out, Phillips hit one to deep center that caromed off the wall and went for a triple. Balkema then went deep for her sixth home run of the season, clearing the wall in left field. CUC added a run in the fifth, ignited by a leadoff walk to Getz. Pinch-runner
Abbey Sloan would move to third on a sacrifice and a wild pitch, and she scored on Van Dyke's sacrifice fly to right.
Things were looking up for the Cougars, but the Falcons had their own uprising in the sixth. With two out and a runner on first, pinch-hitter Heather Renard laced a double to left. Maddie Zazas then singled between first and second to tie the game at 5-5. The game would not be tied for long, however, as Pozezinski added to her team-leading home run total with a no-doubt blast over the left field fence for a 7-5 lead.
Kacey Powers led off the CUC sixth with a hit, but the CUW pitcher was able to work out of the jam. In the seventh, Van Dyke singled with two out, and the drama intensified as Landon's grounder was thrown high to first base. Both runners would move into scoring position before a liner to short ended the game.
In game two, the Falcons took a 1-0 lead in the third on a sacrifice fly. However, the Cougars answered with a four-spot. Singles by
Taylor Kulaszewicz abd Phillips started the rally, and Balkema's bunt single loaded the bases. Landon then fell behind 0-2 in the count but patiently came back to work a walk, forcing home the tying run. Paulauskis-Lauher then hit a come-backer to the pitcher, who threw home for the first out. However, the relay to first was late, and the CUW first baseman threw across to third base, attempting to catch the runner rounding the bag too far. Instead, the throw went wild, and Balkema came home to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead. One out later, Van Dyke's fly to center went in and out of the fielder's glove, and two more runs scored for a 4-1 lead. The FAlcons' leadoff hitter in the fourth reached on a single before the weather conditions took over.
The Cougars (17-12, 7-8 NACC) are scheduled to make up their April 14 doubleheader at Rockford University tomorrow afternoon.
