MILWAUKEE, Wis. -- Needing to steal just one game from Wisconsin Lutheran College in an effort to clinch an NACC playoff berth, the Concordia-Chicago Cougars struggled to string a few hits together to score enough runs to defeat the Warriors. CUC dropped game one 3-2, despite a seventh-inning surge, before falling 4-1 in game two.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:Â
- The Warriors out hit CUC just 12-11 on the day, while the Cougars plated all three of their runs in the top of the seventh innings.
- Senior Marita Van Dyke was the only Cougar to have a multi-hit day, as she also threw four shut-out innings and fanned three WLC batters from the mound.Â
- With one hit today, senior Melissa Balkema finishes her career with 199 base hits. For CUC, she has been a career .422 hitter, leading the Cougars in batting average for the last three seasons.
- Junior Kristen Landon was responsible for CUC's two runs in game one today, as she hit her first home run of the season.
GAME ONE, L 3-2
Kate Roberts opened up the day on the mound for CUC, shutting down WLC's entire offense for three complete innings. As Roberts dealt from the circle, the Cougar offense looked to gain momentum. In the top of the second and third, Concordia led off the innings with singles from
Sydney Getz and
Kacey Powers, respectively, but both threats would end there.Â
Finally in the bottom of the fourth, Wisconsin Lutheran kicked off the inning with a triple to right field. As the runner neared third, a wide throw from CUC allowed the runner to score and give WLC its first lead of the day. Later, the Warriors would strike on a double to right center and a single through the left side to add to the scoreboard.
As WLC had added on one more run in the bottom of the fifth, the Cougars saved a comeback for their last three outs of the game.Â
In the top of the seventh,
Sydney Sterrett slapped a one-out single to reach safely, as Landon punched back with her first homer of the season to give CUC a much needed late-game boost. Down by just one run with two outs to spare, the Cougars went down on a strikeout and fly out to end the game, losing 3-2.
GAME TWO, L 4-1
With one game left in the regular season and one win away from a playoff clinch, the Cougars needed to kick their offense into high gear. However, the Warriors wasted no time picking up where they left off from game one, by plating two runs each in the first two innings of the game.
While the Cougars fell behind 4-0 early, Van Dyke went back to work from the circle and allowed just one hit over the next four innings of play to keep CUC in the game.Â
With potentially three outs left in the season, Van Dyke was due up for the Cougars and sent a long ball to left center to lead off the inning with a single. Rookie
Sydney Paulauskis-Lauher followed the veteran's suit and doubled to left center, placing runners in scoring position, with no outs on the board.
Taylor Kulaszewicz hit the RBI groundout to short, scoring Van Dyke but giving WLC their second out of the inning. With one last out made, WLC managed to halt the Cougar comeback and win the second game of the series, 4-1.
CUC will be back in action during the 2020 season, for more information on the Cougar softball team visit
cucougars.com.
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