IRVINE, Calif. – What a way to finish out the 2024 CUI Kickoff Classic!
No. 14 Concordia University Irvine softball played its longest game of the NCAA DII era in an epic 12-inning affair with eventual tournament champion Western Washington.
The game officially went 3 hours and 28 minutes and was played at nearby Orange County Great Park. It was the first time in this year's tournament that the rain and field conditions cooperated to allow some of the tournament games to be at the normal annual location. (Friday and Saturday's games were rescheduled and moved to surrounding college campuses - including a few back on CUI's campus)
The two teams were knotted in a scoreless tie after the first seven frames.
Katlin Entrup tossed five innings of shutout ball before giving way for fellow senior
Cortney Koelmans.
Koelmans only allowed two run in seven innings and struck out six batters, just like Entrup did as the duo kept CUI in the game the entire time.
Kaia Nisby and the home crowd thought she had an extra-base hit placed deep in the right field corner in the bottom of the eighth but it was ruled a foul ball. It was very similar to a triple to that spot in the yard by WWU infielder Hailey Rath the previous half inning. Regardless, NIsby wound up walking and making it to second base anyway later that inning but CUI was unable to get her home.
To be fair, both teams had ample opportunities throughout the game to score and left multiple runners in scoring position throughout the game. The outfielders for both the Golden Eagles and the Vikings also made some outstanding plays tracking down fly balls and liners despite very windy conditions. It was virtually impossible to hit a home run with the deeper fence at Great Park compared to Golden Eagle Park and the vicious wind that was blowing in toward home plate on Sunday.
Down to her final strike with two outs in the bottom of the 11th,
Shelby Pfeiler tied the game with a clutch RBI single. It was the second time this weekend that she provided a clutch hit to knock in a game-tying run for her team.
After WWU scored twice in the top of the 12th, shortstop
Rylie Rohr added a sacrifice fly to plate Nisby and cut the deficit to 3-2. CUI had the tying run at third base when the third out was recorded to finish the game.
"I'm proud of our team," said CUI head coach Crystal Rosenthal. "We played hard, never gave up and I'm encouraged with how we played."
CUI finished the tournament 3-2 over three days. Western Washington narrowly topped Colorado Christian on the third tiebreaker to be named Tournament Champions. Both teams finished 4-0 at the Kickoff Classic and a +14 in run differential. But WWU scored 25 total runs while CCU scored 23 times to finish as the runner-up.
Northwest Nazarene and Cal State San Bernardino each went 3-0 as well.
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First baseman
Missy Nemeth was named Most Valuable Player of the Tournament after smacking two home runs, hitting .353 and a tournament-high 9 RBI. She cranked the walk-off homer to top San Francisco State on Friday and added another three-run blast in the team's second win that day to give her 8 RBI on the first day of the season.
Mary Baccay and Entrup joined Nemeth on the 2024 All-Tournament Team.
The Golden Eagles have multiple home doubleheaders scheduled this week and will be monitoring the expected rain over the next few days. CUI hosts MSU Billings on Tuesday and No. 25 Northwest Nazarene on Thursday weather permitting.
CLICK HERE for the updated CUI softball schedule
