(Ann Arbor, MI) - The Cardinals headed west yet again for their second weekend of play as they participated in the St. Ambrose Dome tournament. The Cardinals played a pair of games on Saturday with the first being against the hosts, St. Ambrose, and the second being Mount Mercy.
The Cardinals entered the day 6-1 on the season, while the Fighting Bees (St. Ambrose) were 6-2, and the Mustangs (Mount Mercy) entered at 4-2.
GAME 1 - ST. AMBROSE 5, CONCORDIA 4 - 8 INNINGS
CUAA got on the board first in the game with a Katie Tobias single in the top of the first after Shannon McAlinden walked and then stole second and third. SAU responded right away in the bottom half of the inning on an RBI single of their own.
The next 6 innings saw both pitchers at their best as no runs were scored by either side. Erice Ralts, the Fighting Bees pitcher, threw 9 strikeouts over those 6 innings as Paige Anderson struck out 6 batters. Anderson was able to get out of a runner at first and third situation to force the extra innings.
The top of the eighth saw the next action with Payton Lewis beginning at second. Cassidy Kane singled to left and McAlinden walked again to bring Tobias up with the bases loaded. Tobias would proceed with a double to the left centerfield gap to clear the bases for the 4-1 lead.
SAU responded with four runs of their own to claim the win. They would hit a 2-run triple to bring the score within 1 and that was followed by a score on a fielding error. The winning run was scored on a bunt single.
Anderson (1-2) pitched the full 7.2 innings, giving up 8 hits with 5 runs (3 earned) as well as striking out 7 batters.
GAME 2 - CONCORDIA 5, MOUNT MERCY 0
The second game of the day saw neither team able to get on the board in the first inning. After a 1-2-3 top of the second the Cardinal offense came to life on 3 straight plays. Morgan Scott doubled to right field as Payton Lewis scored. A Shannon McAlinden single to center field scored Emilee Underwood, and then Jada Stephenson hit a sacrifice bunt to score Scott.
McAlinden grabbed another 2 RBIs in the bottom of the third as which sent Summer Brady and Lewis across the plate to make it 5-0. Emilee Underwood then was able to set down the next 9 batters in a row as she retired 12 of the final 16 total batters.
Underwood (4-0) pitched a complete game in the circle for the Cardinals allowing 3 hits and striking out 5 batters.
TOP PERFORMERS
3 players recorded 3 hits with Shannon McAlinden, Cassidy Kane, and Payton Lewis leading the team. Katie Tobias recorded 4 RBIs on the day, followed by McAlinden with 3. McAlinden tallied 4 stolen bases as well.
Paige Anderson and Emilee Underwood struck out 7 and 5 batters respectively.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals will have another pair of games tomorrow when they will go up against St. Ambrose for a second time, as well as a game against Judson. The St. Ambrose game will begin at 9:30 AM, with the Judson game around 2 PM.
