(Kansas City, MO) - The Concordia Cardinals softball team opened their run at the NCCAA World Series on Tuesday afternoon and took home a pair of wins to advance to the winners bracket final.
GAME 1 - CONCORDIA 3, KANSAS CHRISTIAN 1
Emilee Underwood pitched the series' opening game for the Cardinals as she twirled a gem with a career-high 15 strikeouts. Underwood (18-3) pitched a complete game with only five baserunners.
The game started out seeing the Cardinals strike first in the bottom of the inning as Payton Lewis and Cassidy Kane hit back-to-back singles. Lewis scored on a double steal as she swiped home and Kane swiped second.
The middle innings saw Underwood strike out 8 of the next 11 batters as Shannon McAlinden caught a Falcons runner at home who was tagged out in a rundown. The fifth inning saw the Cardinals grab a pair of runs after Summer Brady reached safely on a bunt, followed by a Cassidy Kane 2-run home run to dead center field.
The Falcons threatened in the top of the seventh as two runners reached base, but a pair of Underwood strikeouts ended the game.
GAME 2 - CONCORDIA 3, GENEVA 1
Paige Anderson took the circle for game 2 of the day against the Golden Tornadoes. Anderson (15-8) allowed one unearned run in the game on six hits she also struck out six batters.
Katie Tobias opened the bottom of the second with a double to right center field. Faith Cramton followed that up with a single herself. Tobias would then cross the plate for the first CUAA run when Cramton was caught stealing.
Both teams got a run across the board in the fourth inning with Geneva scored on an error. Tobias once again started the bottom half of the inning with another double after two outs, Sarah Tyrell came up and hit a single to right center field to give the Cards back the lead.
The sixth inning saw the final run come across the board with an insurance run off the bat of Tyrell who drove in Tobias.
After a two-out single in the top of the seventh, Anderson induced a fly ball to shallow center field to end the game.
TOP PERFORMERS
Katie Tobias, Cassidy Kane, and Sarah Tyrell each grabbed three hits between the two games. Cassidy Kane hit a home run and all of Tobias' hits were doubles to lead the power department. Kane and Tyrell would lead the RBI department with two apiece.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals are back in action tomorrow, May 15, as they take on Southwestern Christian at 5 PM Central.
