(Sylvania, OH) Last Sunday the Concordia softball program completed their regular season with a 12-8 record in conference, earning them the fourth seed in the WHAC Conference Tournament. In Concordia's most recent trip to the WHAC Tournament in 2019 the Cardinals entered as the #8 seed and fell to top ranked Madonna. This season the Cardinals finished with a winning record of 26-21 and will face off against Cornerstone in the first round of the WHAC Tournament.
Game Information
#4 Concordia vs. #5 Cornerstone
Pacesetter Park | Sylvania, OH
Wednesday, May 5th, 4:00 PM
About the Golden Eagles
This is the Golden Eagles' first appearance in the conference tournament since 2016 when they upset then #2 Madonna before losing their next two games. Cornerstone has an overall record of 17-15 and conference record of 9-11 on the season.
Cornerstone opened the season 7-3 in non-conference play before heading into their WHAC schedule. The Golden Eagles split 7 of their 10 WHAC doubleheaders throughout the season. The exceptions were their sweep of Lourdes, and their doubleheader losses against Aquinas and Concordia.
McKenzie Butgereit and Sierra Sanchez lead the Golden Eagles at the plate with slash lines of .355/.419/.591 and .349/.385/.569 respectively. Kaitlin Johnson and Mikayla Meade do the bulk of the pitching for Cornerstone. Kelsey Kooistra is in her first season as the Head Softball Coach at Cornerstone.
Previous Matchups
April 14th, CUAA 5 - CU 4
Maddie Cieczka started game 1 on the mound, making 4 strikeouts in 6 innings. Cornerstone scored first with a solo home run, but the Cardinals fought back with 3 runs in the bottom of the 1st. Emma Paryaski tied the game with an RBI single scoring Abbie Begley. Paryaski scored the go-ahead run off an error and Lauren Martin hit an RBI single to drive in Sarah Tyrrell. CUAA led 3-1 after the 1st.
Cornerstone got a run back in the 3rd, but Concordia countered in the bottom half of the inning on a 2-RBI single by Carly Pearson that scored Shannon McAlinden and Emma Paryaski. CUAA held a 5-2 lead after the 3rd.
Cornerstone scored in the 4th to pull within 2 runs, but Cieczka was able to hold the Golden Eagles scoreless in the 5th and 6th innings. Cassidy Kane came in to pitch in the 7th and limited Cornerstone to just one run, securing a 5-4 win for CUAA.
April 14th, CUAA 2 - CU 0
Lauren Reichel pitched a complete game shutout in game 2, racking up 5 strikeouts. The game remained scoreless until the Cardinals broke the shutout in the bottom of the 3rd. Koryn Playford was able to reach home while Emma Paryaski was caught in a rundown, putting Concordia up 1-0.
The Cardinals extended their lead in the 4th inning when Carly Pearson hit a solo home run to make it a 2-0 advantage. Neither team scored for the remainder of the contest as Lauren Reichel continued to hold Cornerstone in check. Reichel secured 2 strikeouts in the top of the 7th inning to finish out the game and clinch the sweep.
WHAC Tournament
Following their match up with Cornerstone, the Cardinals will take on either #1 Aquinas or the to be determined #8 seed in game two of the WHAC tournament dependent upon game one results. For all information regarding the WHAC tournament, click here.
