MILWAUKEE, WIS. — As the Concordia University Chicago (CUC) softball team finds themselves in the heat of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC), they take on another opponent. Traveling to the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE), the Cougars fell in both games, 8-1 and 5-4.
Game One
Inside the Box Score:
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Recording the only hit of the game was Becky Pieroni (Montgomery, Ill.), who also picked up an RBI
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Gina Westphal (Elmhurst, Ill.) scored the lone run of the game
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Pitching the brunt of the game was Jaidyn Harris (Jurupa Valley, Calif.) with four innings pitched
The Raiders took it upon themselves in the first inning to strike first as they went up 1-0. Going into the second inning, the Cougars were not able to get on base and give themselves an opportunity to score. However, MSOE made some moves on their own hits to go up 3-0. In the top of the third, Westphal got on base due to an error and made it all the way to third to set up to score. That is when Pieroni hit a scorcher up the middle to score her and make it 3-1.
The game would stay at a score of 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth. The Raiders then took advantage of some Cougar miscues and drove their lead to 5-1. The Cougars would struggle to find themselves on the base paths as the Raiders held them off. Finally, MSOE put the final nail in the coffin as they scored three more runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Raiders took the win over the Cougars with a score of 8-1.
Game Two
Inside the Box Score:
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Arissa Santos (Moreno Valley, Calif.) and Melisa Hadzic (Westchester, Ill.) both went 2-for-3 in this game and picked up their first collegiate home runs
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Pieroni also had an impressive game going 2-for-4 with a home run of her own
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Kallie Tierney (Corona, Calif.) had a career-high 5.2 innings pitched and allocated one strikeout
In game two, MSOE would again strike first as they went up 1-0 in the bottom of the first. This game became a battle as Santos picked up a double in the top of the third to bring the Cougars on the bases. However, Santos would not get hit in and the score remained the same going into the bottom of the third. At this point, the Raiders found another opportunity to score and went up 2-0.
The action would waver until the top of the fifth when Alyssa Kontopoulos (Elmhurst, Ill.) started with a single to left center. Westphal would then bunt herself on to base as well and Haley Gulsby (Englewood, Fla.) would fly out to allow Westphal to score and cut the lead in half 2-1. The Cougars would be able to hold off the Raiders to cross into the top of the sixth. This is when Hadzic would send her first career solo shot to tie up the game at two a piece.
MSOE responded immediately as they scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth to go up 5-2. In a last ditch effort, Pieroni would send a solo shot and then Santos would send her first career shot as well. These two huge hits would bring the Cougars within one at 5-4.
Unfortunately, the Cougars would drop this game to the Raiders with a final score of 5-4.
The Cougars will be playing their rescheduled matchup against North Park University on Wednesday at 3 and 5 p.m. Coverage for all of our sports can be found at cucougars.com/coverage.
