AZUSA, Calif. –
Cortney Koelmans became the eighth Concordia University Irvine softball pitcher to toss a no-hitter on Saturday – and she did so in a perfect way.
Koelmans faced the minimum 21 batters and did not allow a single base runner against the Azusa Pacific Cougars on her way to a perfect game.
It's the first perfect game tossed by a Concordia pitcher in the NCAA DII era. This is also
the first CUI no-hitter since 2019 when
Callie Nunes helped claim career win No. 500 for head coach Crystal Rosenthal in a shutout of Academy of Art.
On Saturday against the second-place Cougars, the Golden Eagles rode the strong pitching of their senior pitchers Koelmans and
Katlin Entrup. The dazzling duo
was announced recently on the NFCA DII Pitcher of the Year Watch List.
Game 1: No. 16 CUI 5, Chaminade 2
Entrup improved to 12-5 and joined Koelmans as the two pitchers with the most wins so far this season in the entire PacWest Conference. She tossed a complete game and only allowed two earned runs.
The senior from Claremont struck out five and walked just two batters. Entrup scattered nine hits as well and outdueled APU starter Katie Korstrom, who is also having a fine season but fell to 11-4 on the year.
Mary Baccay supplied a RBI single to break a 1-1 tie and
Missy Nemeth cranked a two-run homer in the fifth to push the CUI lead to 4-1. A RBI double by catcher
Shelby Pfeiler in the sixth helped CUI get its fifth run of the game.
Game 2: No. 16 CUI 1, Chaminade 0
Koelmans produced seven 1-2-3 innings and struck out six batters. She improved to 15-2 on the year after her memorable day in the circle.
"I think it was around the fourth or fifth inning I started to realize but I tried to not focus on that and just thought about getting through one batter at a time," said Koelmans.
Four of the Cougars that went down by way of the K were caught looking, including the last batter of the game that sealed the deal for her special day in the circle.
"The last out I started to get a little nervous, because more people on the team started to realize I was throwing a perfect game and the dugout got really loud during the last inning," added Koelmans. "But it was super special to me because after the last out I was surrounded by my teammates and was super excited for the team to get another win under our belt as this was one of our big games! I definitely couldn't have done this without the defense behind me as they made a lot of plays that helped me out and the offense for continuing to hit throughout the game."
After Saturday's win, Koelmans moved into sole possession of ninth place in career strikeouts at Concordia. She now has 243 career strikeouts, passing Andrea Castillo who compiled 242 from 2000-03.
Entrup also ranks in the top 10 in that category with more than 350 career K's to her name. Entrup currently ranks No. 6 all-time and is chasing Brittani McGue (401 K's) to break into the Top 5.
Shelli Faulk connected for a RBI single in the top of the second inning to plate Robison for the only run of the game. It wound up being all that Koelmans and the Golden Eagles would need to complete the Saturday sweep.
ON DECK
Next on the docket for the Golden Eagles is a Tuesday trip to Carson. CUI will play a non-conference doubleheader against Cal State Dominguez Hills beginning at 12 p.m.
CUI is then back home on Friday for a doubleheader with Hawai'i Pacific starting at 3 p.m. PT.
CLICK HERE for the updated PacWest softball standings
CLICK HERE for the updated CUI softball schedule
