(Kansas City, MO) – The Concordia softball team wrapped up round robin play in Group B on Wednesday morning against the #3-seed Southwestern Christian Eagles before taking on the #1 overall seed Mid-America Christian Evangels in the semifinals of the NCCAA Softball World Series that evening. The Cardinals fell to SCU, 6-5, in a back-and-forth contest that went to the extras in the morning, before taking their semifinal matchup over MACU by the score of 5-0, securing a spot in the NCCAA World Series Championship Game.
GAME 1 – Southwestern Christian 6, CUAA 5 – 9 Innings
Elyse Brittain started her second consecutive game on the mound for the Cardinals, going 5-innings and striking out a pair of batters while surrendering 4 runs (3 earned) in the no-decision. Payton Lewis would lead off the game with a hit once again, and made her way over to 3rd base with two outs, but CUAA would be unable to bring her home. After perfect innings on the mound by both Brittain in the bottom of the 1st and the Eagles in the top of the 2nd, SCU would drill a pair of doubles in the bottom of the 2nd to take an early 1-0 lead.
After a scoreless 3rd, Shannon McAlinden opened the 4th inning with a double to left-center, before Elyse Brittain got the Cardinals on the board with a 2-run home run to center field, giving Concordia their first lead of the game. Koryn Playford and Dee Campbell would follow up the homer with infield singles, before a Bella Lee bunt brought home Playford to extend the Cardinal lead to 3-1 in the 4th.
CUAA continued to fire away offensively in the 5th, as Katie Tobias drilled a double to left field, before Elyse Brittain hit her 2nd homer of the game in as many at bats, this time on a 2-run shot to right field. Brittain would return to the mound in the bottom of the frame, going 1-2-3 to keep the Cardinals up 5-1 heading into the 6th frame of play. After a quiet top of the 6th, Southwestern Christian put a pair of Eagles on base before blasting a 3-run home run of their own to center field, cutting the deficit to 1.
Cassidy Kane came in to replace Brittain, but SCU would go back-to-back with homers, this time hitting a solo shot to center to tie the contest. In the bottom of the 7th, Southwestern Christian would threaten with a runner on 3rd base and no outs, but a fantastic catch on a line drive by McAlinden and great throw to beat the Eagle runner back to the base eliminated the threat and sent the contest into extra innings tied 5-5.
The Cards threatened in the 8th after singles by Cassidy Kane, Dee Campbell, and Madison Poe, but would be unable to convert, and a clean inning on the mound by Cassidy Kane brought the contest to the 9th frame of play. Concordia opened the inning with a McAlinden single, and after a Playford walk, both runners made it into scoring position with 2 outs, but were once again left stranded. The Eagles would get a pair of their own runners into scoring position with a pair of outs in the bottom of the frame, and would knock a single into left field to score the walk-off, game winning run, giving them a 6-5 victory.
Kane (4-1) was notched with her first loss of the season after making it 3.2 innings on the mound, striking out a runner in the effort. Elyse Brittain finished the contest 2-for-4 from the plate with a pair of homers and 4 RBI's as she led the Cardinal effort both offensively and defensively. McAlinden picked up 3 hits to lead the team in the game, while Campbell, Lewis, and Lee all recorded a pair of hits, too.
GAME 2 – CUAA 5, MACU 0
The Cardinals would win their pool following the conclusion of group play and returned to the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy Wednesday evening for an NCCAA World Series semifinal matchup against the #1-seeded Mid-America Christian Evangels.
Paige Anderson got the nod on the mound for the Cardinals, and she began the contest on a strong foot, retiring the side in 3 total batters. Payton Lewis kicked off the CUAA offense with a leadoff double in the bottom of the 1st, but would be stranded on 3rd at the end of the frame. The defenses locked down even more on both sides, with the teams combining to muster one hit and two total base runners over the next 2½ innings of the game.
In the bottom of the 4th, Shannon McAlinden would reach base and advance to 2nd on a throwing error with one out, before Katie Tobias came to the plate and smacked a two-run homer to center field for the first runs of the game, giving the Cardinals a 2-0 lead at the end of the frame. After scoreless innings from both sides in the 5th and a 1-2-3 inning by Anderson in the top of the 6th, the Cardinals took their opportunity to extend the lead in the bottom of the frame.
After Lewis drilled her second double of the day to begin the inning, McAlindon brought her home with a bunt single. Following a Katie Tobias walk, Elyse Brittain drilled a deep single to right-center, bringing both the base-runners home to put the Cardinals up 5 runs heading into the final inning of play. Paige Anderson once again went 1-2-3 to close out the Evangels, securing a 5-0 victory for CUAA and a trip to the NCCAA World Series Championship Game.
Paige Anderson pitched all 7-innings on the mound, striking out a pair of hitters while surrendering just 1 hit and 2 bases on balls in the shutout victory. Payton Lewis led the team with 2 hits, while Katie Tobias and Elyse Brittain each drove in 2 runs from the batters box.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals will be back in action Thursday, May 18th when they face off with the 5th-seeded Trinity Christian Trolls in the NCCAA World Series title game. Game time is set for 1pm central time at the Kansas City Urban Youth Academy in Kansas City, MO.
