RIVER FOREST, ILL. — With a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) tournament berth on the line, the Concordia University Chicago (CUC) softball team took to the field. Celebrating Senior Day, three athletes: Becky Pieroni (Montgomery, Ill.), Alexis Hilgert (Naperville, Ill.), and Hailey Howard (Machesney Park, Ill.), were honored after the doubleheader play against Dominican University. While dropping both games, the Cougars could not find their way to defeat the Stars.
Game One: 5-0 L
Inside The Box Score:
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Haley Gulsby (Englewood, Fla.) was the only multi-hit Cougar in game one, as she went two-for-three with a double
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Also performing well at the plate was Gina Westphal (Elmhurst, Ill.), who was one-for-two
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Annabella Archuletta (Pueblo, Colo.) had some stellar plays in the field as a defensive star
With Dominican ushered in as the home team for this two-game series, CUC would start off at the plate. Gulsby would start off with a single up the middle to open the game, but would be stranded on the bases. This quickly became a pitcher's duel as Ashley Shroll (Tampa, Fla.) began to make way on the Stars hitters. In the bottom of the second, back-to-back plays from Archuletta would limit Dominican's opportunities.
Still scoreless going into the fifth, the defensive plays kept adding up as both the infield and outfield were able to hold down the fort. It was not until the bottom of the fifth that the Stars would get on the board at 2-0.
Looking to start a rally, Gulsby would double to right center to get into scoring position. However, Dominican would put it on lock down and not allow a Cougar to cross the plate. In the bottom of the sixth, the Stars would tack on more to their lead at 5-0.
The Cougars would be unable to start a comeback and were defeated in game one 5-0.
Game Two: 9-5 L
Inside The Box Score:
Dominican came in hot for game two and they quickly took a 4-0 lead off of a grand slam. Going into the second, Archuletta would double to the wall, but was without an aid to score her. That was when the Stars started to open up their score as they brought it to 6-0.
The top of the third is when Kontopoulos would drop a ball in the right field corner and hustle around for a triple. Right after, Robbins would make the sacrifice to allow Kontopoulos to score 6-1.
Holding off the Stars for an inning, the Cougars began to cause trouble on the base paths. Archuletta started off the rally with a double to set herself up. Kontopoulos would then hit a ball into center that caused a frenzy of problems for Dominican. Right after, Robbins would lay out one of her own as well, and the score quickly became 6-4.
To cap it all off, Pieroni shot a ball up the middle to bring the score within one at 6-5. However, the Stars responded immediately in the next inning and lengthened the lead 8-5.
With some big time plays on the defense, the Cougars were still holding off the Stars, but without a run in sight. Dominican would score one more run at 9-5 and that would be all she wrote. The Cougars would fall in this final game 9-5.
With these regular season games completed, this marks the end of the CUC softball season. The Cougars finished 18-20-1 overall and 9-10-1 in conference play. For any and all updates, regarding rosters, schedules, and more, head to cucougars.com.
