WHEATON, ILL. — On the come back from their Spring Break trip, the Concordia University Chicago (CUC) softball team is back in Illinois for some action. Traveling to Wheaton College, the Cougars split in this two game series with a 19-9 win and a 13-5 loss. In the game one win, it marked the most runs scored by a CUC offense since March 10, 2016 against Penn State Beaver.
Game One
Inside The Box Score:
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Nikita Robbins (Lafayette, Ind.) led the offense going 4-for-4 with a career-high four hits and three runs scored
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Also supplying power was Arissa Santos (Moreno Valley, Calif.) going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Becky Pieroni (Montgomery, Ill.) also went 2-for-2 with three walks and a career-high five runs scored
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Annabella Archuletta (Pueblo, Colo.) had a career-high tying four RBIs while going 2-for-4 with two runs scored
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Taking the brunt of the pitching was Ashley Shroll (Tampa, Fla.) who threw four innings with two strikeouts
The Cougars came out to a screaming start as they immediately went up 2-0 in the top of the first. This was courtesy of Hailey Howard (Machesney Park, Ill.) getting on to allow Pieroni to score and a Santos single that scored Archuletta. The Thunder would respond immediately as they tied the game up 2-2 in the bottom of the first. Robbins would then find her second ball of the day as she raked in a double to score Pieroni and go up 3-2. The game would stay stagnant for both teams until the top of the fourth. But, Shroll found her groove and had back-to-back strikeouts in the bottom of the third to help preserve the Cougar lead.
The top of the fourth is when the Cougars really let loose on the offensive end. It started with an Archuletta double that scored Pieroni, Robbins, and Gina Westphal (Elmhurst, Ill.) to make it 6-2. Howard then singled to right field and gave Archuletta the ability to score. Right after, Santos hit a double that scored Jessica Geng (Phoenix, Ariz.) and brought them up 8-2. Then, freshman Melisa Hadzic (Westchester, Ill.) hit a scorching double that allowed Santos and Howard to cross the plate and brought the score to run-rule territory at 10-2.
In the bottom of the fourth, Wheaton would respond with a couple runs of their own to try and avoid the run rule. This was courtesy of two doubles that chipped away at the Cougar lead 10-5. However, this seemed to only add fuel to the fire for the Cougars. Pieroni would walk to set up Robbins to score her on a single to left and make it 11-5. Howard then singled to left to allow Geng and Robbins to score and bring the staggering total to 13-5.
The fun was not done for the Cougars as they were able to score two more from a Santos double and Haley Gulsby (Englewood, Fla.) single making it 15-5. Alexis Hilgert (Naperville, Ill.) then singled through the right side and Gulsby scored. Then a Pieroni double, Robbins single, and Archuletta double, all back-to-back-to-back, brought the total all the way to 19-5.
Wheaton would try to respond with a couple more runs in the bottom of the fifth, but would fall short of stopping the run rule. The Cougars took game one in five innings with a score of 19-9.
Game Two
Inside The Box Score:
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Leading the offense was Archuletta and Robbins, who both went 3-for-3 at the plate
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Pieroni picked up her second home run of the season and also went 1-for-2 at the plate with a walk
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Howard was right there leading the offense, going 2-for-3 with one run scored
Cougar pitcher Emma Borrelli (Arlington Heights, Ill.) came out hot in game two as she went three-up, three-down to start the first inning. The Cougars were then able to score the first run of the game from an Archuletta single to score Pieroni 1-0. This score would remain the same until the top of the third when Wheaton responded with four runs of their own 4-1. This brought a challenge ahead for the Cougars.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Cougars were able to steal the lead from the Thunder. Howard would single to left and then Gulsby picked up a walk. This would set up Westphal for her double to score both of these Cougars 4-3. Right after, Pieroni picked up a two-run homerun to take the lead from Wheaton 5-4.
In the top of the fifth, Wheaton went on a rally of eight runs, which put them into run-rule territory. With the Cougars unable to keep the game out of this eight-run deficit, they fell to Wheaton in game two with a score of 13-5.
The Cougars will be hosting their home opener this Wednesday against North Park at 3 and 5 p.m. Coverage for all of our sports can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
