orlando, fla. - the concordia university softball team improved to 6-4 on the season with two wins posted today at the rebel spring games in orlando, florida. The squad pulled out a 3-2 win over northern kentucky in eight innings and followed up with a 4-2 win over #15 california university of pennsylvania. The squad has gone 5-1 so far on its spring break trip with eight more games on slate before they return to minnesota. nku box score - cal pa box score
it took eight innings of work to bring about a one-run win over northern kentucky (4-6) on monday morning and sophomore calli brennan again delivered the game-winning hit to end the matchup. The golden bears rallied from a 2-0 deficit to tie the game in the sixth inning and broke the stalemate in the bottom of the 8th.
singles from katie anderson and brennan set up senior tiff rodd for a big at-bat with one out in the sixth and time winding down to make an offensive move. Rodd delivered an rbi double to left field to get the golden bears on the board and move brennan to third base. A northern kentucky illegal pitch allowed brennan to tie the game without contest and set the table for the showdown.
junior cassye mcmahon, who threw the complete game win, gave northern kentucky hope when she brushed the lead-off batter to put the go-ahead runner on base. Catcher nikki scherr erased the mistake, however, throwing out the attempted base stealer at second base. Mcmahon then closed the inning out with fly balls. The golden bears went down on strikes in the bottom of the inning and the game went into an extra frame with international tie-break rules dictating a runner placed on second base.
northern kentucky moved the runner over to third base with a sacrifice bunt and threatened to recapture their lead, but brennan's handiwork at third base preserved the tie. With runners at the corners, brennan left her feet to make a diving stop of a ground ball, looked the runner at third back to the base and rocketed a throw over to first to get the second out of the inning. She finished off the threat by catching a foul fly and strand both runners on base.
concordia's shot in extra innings also started with a sacrifice bunt by anderson that moved anna bjorlin (placed on second base) over to third. Brennan then stepped to the plate and delivered a bloop single to left center field to safely score bjorlin and give concordia the 3-2 win.
the golden bear batters were led by anderson, brennan and scherr with two hits each. Mcmahon struck out five northern kentucky batters for her second win of the year.
game 2
the golden bears defeated #15 california (pa.) in seven innings to go up 2-0 on the day and 6-4 on the season. stephanie schmikla threw a complete game win, her third victory of the year. She held the vulcans to just four hits in the game and just two in the last six innings. The golden bears countered with a big 11 hit game to win their fifth straight decision.
schmikla was touched for two hits and a walk against the first three california pa. Batters of the game, which resulted in a 1-0 early lead. The junior pitcher rebounded extremely well after the first bit of trouble, however, facing just three batters in each of the next three innings and not allowing another earned run in the game.
the golden bears went to work in the second inning and stole the lead with two runs. tiff rodd started the frame off with a double and came in to score off of a jamie lindboe single. Lindboe later crossed the plate following a california pa. Error. The team added another run in the fourth inning to go up 3-1. Their sixth inning run that saw a 4-1 lead on the scoreboard came as a result of another california pa. Error and a calli brennan single.
katie anderson, abby brundidge, lindboe and missie feuerbach each had multiple hit games, lindboe finishing 2-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored and an rbi.
