A long day of softball ended with another split series for the Concordia University Chicago softball team (7-18-1) as they tackled day two of their games with Division Street Rival Dominican University (8-12).

Game one saw sophomore Hailey Howard (Machesney Park, Ill.) starting on the mound for the Cougars, giving up one run in the top of the first.  In the bottom of the first, sophomoreBecky Pieroni (Montgomery, Ill.) returned the favor, hitting a solo homerun over the center-right fence to tie the game up.  After Pieroni's homer, the Cougars found themselves in a slump, only grabbing five hits throughout the rest of the game.

Following Dominican's fourth run of the game, senior Kate Roberts (Pontiac, Ill.) stepped on the mound to relieve Howard. After allowing two more runs, another pitching change for the game gave senior Karlee Knight (Lake Station, Ind.) the mound with the score 6-1 in the top of the fourth. As Dominican's bats continued to find success, one last pitching change gave Howard the opportunity to close the game out after a Domincan lead of 11-1.  

Dominican ultimately reigned victorious after five innings with a final score 13-1.

While the first game of the day saw a shortened amount of innings, the second game saw the opposite as it ultimately went eight innings to give the Cougars the win.  Stepping onto the mound in game two for CUC was junior Holly Bathje (Davis Junction, Ill.) who held the Stars to just two runs in the first two innings, while the Cougars got their bats warming up.  Seniors Nia DeGeorge (Omaha, Neb.) and Isabel Ortiz (Homer Glen, Ill.) both found themselves in scoring opportunities, tying the game up 2-2 heading into the top of the fourth.  As Bathje continued to throw strikes, the Stars were able to grab five hits and score three runs giving them the lead 5-3 heading into the bottom of the seventh. 

In a do or die situation, multiple Cougars put themselves in scoring position to fight back. A clutch basehit from DeGeorge gave Pieroni the opportunity to score, upping the score to a 5-4 lead for the Stars. With outs to give, freshmen Gina Westphal (Elmhurst, Ill.) had a sacrifice fly that gave Ortiz the chance to tag up and score, tying the game up. 

With Bathje not giving the Stars any opportunities to score, the Cougars found themselves back at bat ready to end the game. With runners on base, and only one out, Ortiz gave the Cougars the win with a walkoff after a sacrifice fly to left brought senior Sydney Sterrett (Lafayette, Ind.) the chance to tag up and score at the plate. 

Following Ortiz's walkoff, the Cougars honored the two graduating seniors; Ortiz and Yasmine Fox (Palos Hills, Ill.).

The Cougars will be back in action as they take on Edgewood this Tuesday at home in a doubleheader slated to start at 3 p.m.