(Kansas City, MO) – The Concordia softball team kicked off the 2023 National Christian Collegiate College World Series on Tuesday with a pair of games against the tournament's 7th-seed Arlington Baptist Patriots and 6th-seed Paine College Lions. The Cardinal defense was elite all day, surrendering a combined 2 hits all day as they secured a pair of shutout victories.
GAME 1 – CUAA 8, Arlington Baptist 0 – 5 Innings
The Cardinals would be the away team due to coin flip in their first game of the tournament, and they would not hesitate to attack right away. Payton Lewis led off the game with a double, before Shannon McAlinden came up two batters later and crushed a 2-run homer to centerfield on the first pitch she saw. CUAA would get two more runners on in the inning, but would be held off from providing further damage to the Patriots.
Paige Anderson got the nod to start on the mound in game one, and she was clicking all day, beginning with striking out the first two batters of the game before getting out of a jam following a pair of walks surrendered. Sarah Tyrrell and Lauren Martin would open the top of the 2nd with singles, before McAlinden came to the plate with two outs and drove a 3-run shot to left field for her second homer in as many plate appearances and 5th RBI of the game, extending the Cardinal lead to 5.
Both pitchers would settle in from there, as neither side surrendered a hit until the top of the 4th, when Katie Tobias reached on a single to second base. After making it to 2nd on an Elyse Brittain walk, Tobias stole 3rd with two outs and advanced home on an errand throw by the Patriot catcher, giving Concordia a 6-0 lead through four innings of play.
Anderson continued to be flawless on the mound, pitching another 1-2-3 inning to get the Cardinal bats back up in the top of the 5th. After a one out single by Lauren Martin, Payton Lewis drilled a hard-hit ball down the right field line, which took an awkward bounce off the wall in the corner and gave Lewis enough time to round all the bases for an inside the park 2-run home run, the 3rd homer of the game for CUAA.
Anderson would come back to the mound with a chance to solidify a Cardinal win via run-rule, and after a great catch by Playford and a groundout to the pitcher for the first two outs, she would surrender her only hit of the game to a well hit double to right-center. Anderson (21-8) would recover with her 9th strike out of the contest in the next at-bat, sealing the deal on a game 1 victory for Concordia.
GAME 2 – CUAA 3, Paine College 0
The second game of the day took a bit more time to get the bats going, with neither side picking up a base runner until CUAA did in the bottom of the 2nd. The Cardinals would get runners of 2nd and 3rd in the inning, but would be unable to convert.
Elyse Brittain, who started the second game on the mound for the Cardinals, was impressive all day, not allowing a Lion base runner until the top of the 4th when a ball deflected off of her arm on the mound for an infield single. She continued to shut the door, however, leading the way for a big bottom of the 4th for Concordia, started by a Katie Tobias double to left field. After tagging and advancing to 3rd base on a fly out, a bunt single by Sarah Tyrell brought Tobias home for the first run of the game.
Tyrell would make it to 3rd base on an error during the same play, and Maddy Grueter would lay down a sacrifice bunt in the next at bat to bring her home, doubling the Cardinals lead to 2. After another impressive inning by Brittain, Shannon McAlinden got to second base with one out off a walk and steal in the bottom of the 5th, before Tobias drove her home with a single up the middle to make it 3-0 Cardinals.
Brittain was perfect on the mound once again in the 6th, leaving the stage for Kendall Kahl to come in an earn the save (2) in the Top of the 7th with an impressive inning of her own that included a pair of groundouts and a strikeout. Brittain (8-4) finished the contest with 6 innings pitched, striking out 8 batters and allowing just one hit and walk, each.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals will be back in action tomorrow, May 17th when they take on the 3rd-seeded Southwestern Christian Eagles in their final game of group play before seeing what their fate will be the for the tournament semifinals that evening. Game time is set for 10am central time at the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy in Kansas City, MO.
