Concordia university (41-16) upended missouri western state 3-2 in the elimination bracket of the 2006 ncaa north central regional tournament at turnbull field in emporia, kansas. The golden bears advance to take on nebraska-omaha this afternoon at 5:30 in the next round of the elimination bracket.
the griffons scored first in the top of the first as senior pitcher
kristen schmidt issued a pair of one out walks before surrendering an rbi single up the middle.
concordia struck back in the bottom half of the inning as senior shortstop
tracie enzler led off with a walk, advanced to second on senior left fielder
vanessa dufresne's sacrifice bunt and came in to score when junior third baseman
amanda yurek (right) placed an rbi single up the middle.
the griffons added another in the second inning, but stranded the bases loaded as they left five runners on base in the first two innings. Schmidt was able to pitch herself out of a pair of jams as she only allowed one run in each of the first two innings despite the griffon base runners.
in the third inning, the bears would rally as freshman centerfielder
natalie mast led off with a walk. She moved up to second when enzler (left) reached with a base hit. With runners on first and second, dufresne placed a bunt a few feet in front of home plate and easily beat it out at first base to load the bases. After a pair of outs, schmidt and senior right fielder
nikki smith drew back-to-back walks to take the first lead of the game at 3-2.
schmidt settled into a groove after a rocky first two innings as she went on to retire the next 10 batters, including a stretch where she struck out four of six hitters. She rolled through the griffon lineup en route to improving her record to 24-11 on the season as she tossed a complete game, striking out eight against four hits and two walks. She allowed two runs, one earned as she threw 102 pitches.
the bears needed just three hits to pull out the victory, but they were patient at the plate as they drew five walks, all in the first three innings.
