SAN RAFAEL, Calif. – The Concordia and Dominican softball teams wound up with the same final score twice on Saturday, but both games took very different routes to get there.
In the PacWest Conference openers for both squads, No. 23 Concordia scooped up back-to-back 3-0 victories. The first game went eight innings, marking the fifth time already this season that the Golden Eagles have needed to play extras.
Game 1: No. 23 CUI 3, Dominican 0 (8 innings)
Katlin Entrup tossed a one-hitter over the course of eight scoreless innings in the circle. She struck out nine and did a good job with her control as she only walked two batters.
With the exception of one single by Shelby Keltner in the second frame, Entrup completely silenced Dominican's bats.
Two key hits for Concordia came in the top of the eighth after the teams held each other to goose eggs through the first seven innings.
Eager to make a difference,
Cortney Koelmans spiced a two-out, two-run double to score
Jessica Im and
Megan Johnson. Moments later,
Missy Nemeth landed a RBI double down the right field line to plate Koelmans and cement the 3-0 victory. Entrup coerced a grounder to third baseman
Jocelyn Pino to end the game.
Game 2: No. 23 CUI 3, Dominican 0
Speaking of coming up big in the clutch,
Cortney Koelmans also pitched the first five innings of the second game on Saturday and scattered four hits while allowing zero runs.
Megan Casper then stepped in and made sure the Penguins offense stayed in the ice box by silencing the Dominican offense over the last two frames. Koelmans improved to 4-1 with the victory and Casper nailed down her first save as a Golden Eagle.
Michalah Robison had a RBI double to put CUI up 1-0 right away in the first inning. Freshman
Audrey Robles added some insurance by helping two more runs cross the plate with a single in the third.
Both teams are right back at it again on Sunday, Feb 25 in San Rafael with another PacWest doubleheader that starts at 12 p.m. CUI then closes out its 10-game road trip through Northern California with a pair of doubleheaders at Academy of Art on Tuesday and Wednesday.
CUI is back home again on Friday, March 8 against Biola for a doubleheader beginning at 3 p.m.
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