concordia university (17-11) dropped both games to the university of minnesota duluth (12-13) in their home opener at dunning field on tuesday afternoon. The golden bears' late first game rally fell short in a 2-1 loss before their late home runs were unable to surmount a six run deficit in a 6-3 loss in game two.
game one: umd 2, concordia 1
concordia left eight runners on base and struck out 11 times as kristin danielson picked up the win for the bulldogs.
the golden bears stranded a runner on third in the second and fourth innings, and stranded a runner on second in the third while leaving runners on first and second in the fifth.
but the most costly inning was the seventh. sami mattson (fr., esko, mn) led off with a single to center and advanced when molli lenzi's (fr., st. Paul, mn) pinch hit sacrifice bunt was botched by a throwing error by danielson. Lenzi went to second while mattson moved up to third.
mattson scored when natalie mast (jr., oakdale, mn) placed a single past the shortstop, her third hit of the game while lenzi moved up to third, giving concordia runners on first and third with one out.
but a strikeout and groundout to pitcher ended the game with the tying run 90 feet from home.
stephanie schmikla (fr., madison, wi) pitched well, but drew the loss, falling to 6-5. She went the distance allowing five hits and two runs. She walked five and struck out five for the golden bears.
mast finished 3-4 with an rbi and a pair of steals while mattson went 2-3 with a run and abby brundidge (so., nekoosa, wi) was 2-4.
the bulldogs scored both of their runs in the third inning and led the rest of the way.
game two: umd 6, concordia 3
after three scoreless innings to start the game, the bulldogs scored five in the fourth and added another in the sixth to put the golden bears in a 6-0 hole.
a two run home run by tiffani rodd (so., cloquet, mn) and a solo blast by sami mattson cut the lead in half, but it was too much to overcome in the loss.
the home run by rodd was her fifth of the year while mattson hit her third.
jenn kaminski (jr., columbia heights, mn) hurled a complete game in the losing effort, falling to 7-4. She allowed six runs (five earned) on 12 hits. She struck out three and did not issue a walk.
concordia had just five team hits, with no one posting a multi-hit game in the second game of the doubleheader.
natalie mast was caught stealing for just the fourth time all year, and with her two steals in the first game, she is now 32-36 on the season on the basepaths. She was 4-7 at the plate in the two games.
abby brundidge finished the doubleheader 3-6 to continue her strong season. She entered play hitting .449 on the season.
mattson also went 3-6 in the two games for concordia.
the golden bears continue to play at home tomorrow in the middle of a back-to-back-to-back home week of doubleheaders. Tomorrow the golden bears entertain the mavericks of minnesota state university, mankato at 3 p.m. At dunning field.
