Battling Until The End

MOORHEAD, Minn. (4/02/17)--- Concordia battled until the very end of their second straight home conference doubleheader. The Cobbers lost 9-1 in the opener against Carleton and trailed 8-0 in Game 2 but then put up seven runs in the fourth and fifth innings before falling 15-7.

The two losses push Concordia's record to 8-12 on the year. CC starts the MIAC season with an 0-4 record. The Knights are now 9-7 in all games and 2-2 in league play.  

The Cobbers trailed by eight heading into the bottom of the fourth in the second game. CC then put up five runs on the scoreboard in the fourth and two more in the fifth. The five-run fourth came courtesy of four hits with the biggest being a double to left field off the bat of Nicole Johannes with the bases loaded. Her two-run two-bagger to right center field made the score 8-3. Gabby Gardner then singled to right field which brought home Johannes and Betsy Asp and brought the score to 8-5.

Concordia would then cut the lead all the way down to one run when they plated two more runs in the fifth. Asp doubled home the first run and then advanced to third on an error. She would then score on a wild pitch to the very next batter.

Unfortunately the Cobbers would never be able to get level with the Knights and then Carleton added seven runs on three hits in the sixth inning.

Concordia had five hits in the finale. Five different Cobbers had one hit each. Asp, Johannes, Gardner, Devonie Smith and Sydney Roberts all had a single base hit.

The opener was decided in the second and third innings when Carleton scored three runs in each frame. The back-to-back three-run frames came after the Cobbers had trimmed the Knights' lead to 2-1 with a single run in the bottom of the first.

Madison Little scored the first run of the day for Concordia. She singled up the middle to lead off the inning and went to second on a bunt single from Cora Zackrison. The pair then pulled off a double steal before scoring on a ground ball.

Zackrison led the CC offense in the first game. She went 2-for-2. Roberts had the lone RBI in the game.

Sophomore Kendra Spindler pitched 10.1 of the 11 innings on the day. She struck out four batters in her 12th and 13th appearances of the year.

 WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will continue with conference play when they play at St. Olaf on Wednesday, Apr. 5 at 3:30 p.m. CC will then bead to the Twin Cities for a pair of MIAC doubleheaders next weekend.