SAN RAFAEL, Calif.- The Concordia University Irvine women's softball team packed their bags and headed out to Northern California for a handful of games. Friday, April 9th and Saturday, April 10th CUI will play Dominican University and Northwest Nazarene a total of two times. On Friday, the Eagles will play Dominican in game one and Northwest Nazarene in game two. On Saturday, the Eagles will face Northwest Nazarene first and then Dominican.
"Great day today,
Marisa Stockton was big time with a pinch grand slam,
Sydni Dix was all over the ball, and
Rylie Rohr hit two out," said head coach and athletic director
Crystal Rosenthal. "Overall a solid day, proud of our effort."
Game One: CUI 10, DU 0
All-American
Callie Nunes started on the mound in game one against Dominican. She was effective in the circle accumulating six strikeouts, eight flyouts, and only letting up a measly three hits in the five innings she tossed. In the bottom of the sixth, freshman
Cortney Koelmans came in to close. Nunes and Koelmans combined tossed a shutout in game one and Nunes was awarded with the win. Nunes recorded will improve to 7-3.
The Eagles sticks were effective in game one. In the fourth inning they scored the first runs of the match when Dix ripped a triple to right field, scoring
Megan Johnson. Dix then scored off of a squeeze play, bunted by Rohr and she also safely reached first.
In the fifth inning, Stockton crushed a grand slam over the left field fence.
"I would say my mindset going in (to her at-bat) is not to overthink anything," reflected Stockton. "Coming into a situation like this is not something new for me and staying relaxed and trusting myself has always been a major key. Finally connecting with that ball was so rewarding, I knew it was gone off the bat."
This was the Eagles first grand slam of the season and Stockton's first home run as an Eagle. Stockton scored Rohr, Dix, and
Missy Nemeth. The Green and Gold ended the inning up 7-0.
In the top of the seventh, Dix doubled scoring
Sydney Sprinkle. Rohr picked up Dix with a triple to deep right center, making the score CUI up 9-0. After a pitching change by the Penguins
Lauren Lopez hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Rohr, the Eagles final run of the game.
Game Two: CUI 11, NNU 2
Kelsea Sweeney started game two against Northwest Nazarene. She pitched five innings and had four strikeouts, six groundouts, and four flyouts.
Erika Morris relieved the last two innings to close the game out for the Eagles.
CUI's offense broke through early, scoring two runs in the first inning.
Megan Massa and
McKinsey Thorpe had back-to-back singles. Sprinkle also singled, scoring Massa. After Sprinkle, Nemeth grounded out to second base successfully scoring Thorpe. The damage was done and the Eagles ended the inning up 2-0.
CUI lit up the third inning, securing seven insurance runs. Massa began the inning with a double to left field and then Thorpe came up behind her with a single. Nemeth singled to the right side, picking up two RBIs. Rohr then smacked a three-run home run to the left side, scoring Nemeth and Dix. DU had a pitching change after Rohr's at-bat, but the Eagles bats stayed hot. There were a handful of singles and Lopez and
Lauren Fairchild scored, ending the inning up 7-0.
Northwest Nazarene got on the board in the bottom of the third, after a two-run homer. Sweeney, resilient on the mound, came back firing and struck out two consecutive batters to end the inning. The score became CUI up 7-2.
In the seventh inning, Rohr powered a two-run home run to left center that made the score Eagles up 11-2.
"I felt very confident at the plate today," stated Rohr. "With it being my first time in NorCal, I really wanted to come out and just do my very best to help the team take two wins today. The team's overall energy was great, and it continued to grow with each run that we scored."
That was Rohr's fourth home run of the season and second one of the day. She was
also this week's PacWest Freshman of the Week, and continues to show why she deserved that honor.
To view the softball team's full schedule
CLICK HERE.
