The Concordia University Chicago softball team (11-25-1) dropped a pair of games at home on Saturday to the Spartans of Aurora University (31-3) by final scores of 9-2 and 11-1.
Game One
After three scoreless innings, the Spartans got things going offensively in the fourth with several hard hit balls that resulted in three runs.
Sophomore Becky Pieroni (Montgomery, Ill.) reached on an error to begin the bottom half of the inning, racing all the way to second on an errant throw to first. She moved quickly to third on a sac-bunt from sophomore Haley Howard (Machesney Park, Ill.) and was driven home on a double to left by senior Nia DeGeorge (Omaha, Neb.) to make it a 3-1 game.
Two batters later, freshman Gina Westphal (Elmhurst, Ill.) provided a crucial two-out single to center that brought the Cougars within one.
Aurora got right back to it in the fifth, putting up a four-spot before junior Holly Bathje (Davis Junction, Ill.) worked around trouble to avoid any further damage in the inning.
Two more runs from Aurora in the game's final inning brought the score to 9-2, where it would remain until the end.
Game Two
The Cougars kicked off the scoring in the night-cap, with three hits in the first inning including an RBI single to left off the bat of Westphal that scored Howard to make it 1-0.
The Spartans answered in the third with a pair of two-out runs courtesy of a double off the wall in left center. A third, unearned, run was added as well as another in the fourth as Aurora held a 4-1 lead at the game's halfway point.
A hit from senior Sydney Sterrett (Lafayette, Ind.) in the bottom half of the fourth appeared to score fellow senior Isabel Ortiz (Homer Glen, Ill.) due to the catcher obstructing the base path, but the umpire disagreed and instead it became the final out of the inning, halting the Cougars rally.
Additional runs were added by the Spartans in the fifth, sixth and seventh to slowly mount their lead, eventually winning 11-1.
DeGeorge and Westphal both had multiple hits on the day, with DeGeorge and Ortiz providing extra-base hits.
The Cougars will wrap up their regular season tomorrow with a doubleheader on the road against these same Aurora Spartans. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. and coverage will be available on the Aurora website.
