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Softball Drops Two Sloppy
Games Against Concordia |
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Complete Box Scores »» Game 1 Game 2 Back in February, Cougar softball got its first win in program history at then-#10 ranked Concordia. But in the rematch on Saturday, there would be no such upset, as the Concordia handed the Cougars two ugly losses by scores of 12-2 and 9-2. Early on, game one was shaping up like a classic pitchers’ duel, but ended up as a blowout after a disastrous fifth inning for CSUSM. Both starting pitchers escaped first inning jams. Concordia had two runners in scoring position with two outs, but Cougar starter Melissa Lerno came through with a strikeout to leave them stranded. In the bottom of the inning, leadoff hitter Erica Coelho flared a single to right, and a sacrifice and wild pitch advanced her to third. But Eagles’ starter Kory Briggs induced a groundout and fly-out to escape with no damage. Those opportunities would prove to be the best either team would get in the early going, as the pitchers settled down to keep the game scoreless through the 4th. But they were doing it in different ways, and that proved to be the difference in the game. Lerno started the game by going primarily with fastballs, throwing in an occasional slow changeup to keep hitters off-balance. Early in the game, Concordia hitters began timing her fastball, and were actually out in front of it a good portion of the time. They fouled off a lot of balls, and with Lerno going deep into most counts, she consequently was throwing a lot of pitches. Even though no runs were crossing the plate, Concordia had baserunners every inning. As her pitch count rose, Lerno’s control, which was clearly not spot-on from the beginning, began to fade. Meanwhile, Briggs mixed her pitches effectively, and got most of her outs early in counts. Despite all this, the Cougars would be the ones to break the scoreless tie in the 4th, as Elizaeth Bush drilled a triple to right-center that plated pinch runner Aly Brown. But the lead would be short-lived, as the wheels came off for the Cougars in the 5th. A leadoff walk was tripled in by Ashley Alvarez to tie the game, and the go-ahead run came in after another walk and a single. Then, shortstop Holly Russell, who had been having a very solid game defensively, was unable to corral a hard-hit line drive, allowing the next run to score. More runs would cross the plate on a base hit, another triple, and a passed ball. After two more walks, pitcher Amanda Sanchez was called on to get the team out of the inning. She did, but only after two more runs crossed the plate to make the game 8-1. Lerno walked a season-high 6 in allowing the 8 runs, half of which were earned. CSUSM got one run in the bottom of the inning; but Concordia tacked on 4 more runs in the 6th, and when the Cougars were unable to answer off reliever Shelley Henning, the game was called at 12-2 due to the mercy rule. Game two once again started well for the Cougars, as rightfielder Leilani Madrigal made a diving catch to rob the first batter of the game, and a Tasha Stokes seeing-eye single up the middle gave the Cougars an early 1-0 lead. But that would be about all that went right for CSUSM, as Concordia quickly answered with a run of their own in the second, then five more in the third. In that third inning, an RBI triple by Caitlyn Senkbeil got things started, but a trio of errors by the Cougars were what really did the damage. Despite the big deficit, Coelho continued to throw strikes and give the team innings. She went the full 7 innings, allowing 9 runs (5 earned) on 12 hits, while walking 5 batters. She also knocked in the Cougars' second run with a booming RBI double in the 4th. That would be the last of CSUSM's scoring, as three Concordia pitchers combined to limit the Cougars' to just the two runs. The 9-2 loss drops the Cougars to 9-27 on the season. Cougar softball has just one home date left on the schedule: an April 21st matchup against #1-ranked Cal Baptist. |