(Melbourne, FL) – The Cardinals wrapped up their spring break trip in Melbourne, FL earlier today with two games against IUPUC and Missouri Baptist. Concordia would pick up the win against IUPUC by the score of 13-4 before dropping the contest against Missouri Baptist to the tune of a 7-0 final score.
GAME 1 - CUAA 13, IUPUC 4
The first game of the day featured Shannon McAlinden and Madison Poe both going 3 for 3 with 3 RBI's. Katie Tobias and Maddie Grueter would get two hits a piece and 3 RBI's in total.
Rachel Cowan would single in the first of the contest thanks to an infield single. That run would give IUPUC an early 1-0 lead after the top of the first was concluded. This lead would not last very long for the Crimson Pride.
The scoring would start early for the Cardinals, as McAlinden bunted home Peyton Lewis to give them their first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. From this point, the floodgates would open as Concordia scored 10 more times in the frame. Poe would pick an RBI double and a two-run single while McAlinden would add another bunt RBI single. Tobias would pick up both of her hits, including a triple, and both of her RBI's in this inning before the third out was finally recorded.
Taylor Hadley would get IUPUC on the board in the top of the second inning with an RBI single and the score would remain 11-2 in favor of the Cardinals until the bottom of the third. McAlinden would collect her third hit of the afternoon, which was an RBI triple that also allowed her to score thanks to a throwing error by Hadley.
IUPUC would add three more runs in the top of the fifth, but it would not be enough as Concordia cruised to a 13-4 victory to start out the day.
Cassidy Kane (4-0), who pitched 2 ⅓ innings of shutout softball, would get the credit for the win in the five inning game. Maddison Brittain (0-1) would get tagged with the loss after not being able to make it out of the first inning for the Crimson Pride.
GAME 2 - CUAA 0, Missouri Baptist 7
Game 2 of the day would be a much different contest for the Cardinals. Paige Anderson and Alexandria Cafolla would compete in a pitchers duel for the first two innings of the contest. Anderson had allowed just four baserunners total (three hits, one HBP) and struck out one hitter, while Cafolla was perfect through two innings with two strikeouts.
The top of the third would prove to be a pivotal inning, as Allison Leigraf (4-4, 2 RBI) would double in a pair of runs before Anderson could escape the inning. The Cardinals would go down in order in the bottom half of the third.
The fourth inning would see another run be put on the board by Shelby Sievers, making the lead expand to 3-0 for the Spartans. The Cardinals would finally collect a base hit in the bottom of the fourth, one of four on the game.
The final three innings would see four more runs added to the Spartans total from the likes of Kolby Blake, Madalyn Bone (5-5, RBI), Meghan Hager, and Sievers again.
Cofalla (8-2) pitched a four-hit complete game shutout, picking up 5 strikeouts and the win. Anderson (7-4) would toss 4 ⅔ innings while surrendering 5 runs (4 earned) and 13 hits on 3 strikeouts.
Overall, Concordia went 10-4 on the extended road trip and improved to 20-8 on the season.
Their next games are slated to take place in Grand Rapids, MI as they will take the Aquinas Saints on Saturday, March 25th.
