Rotunda Sends Cobbers Home With A Pitching Gem

TITUSVILLE, Fla. (3/02/15)—Concordia finished its annual spring break trip to Florida by losing a 2-1 nail-biter to Cardinal Stritch (Wis.). The Wolves scored in the bottom of the seventh to decide a back-and-forth battle between the pitchers.

Concordia completes their Florida trip with a 2-3 overall record. The Cobbers had two games cancelled due to rain and played a pair of other games against Sinclair Community College. CC won both games against Sinclair but since Sinclair is a junior college the games, and statistics, from the games don't count in the overall record of the team in accordance with NCAA regulations.

Cardinal Stritch continues its solid play in Florida. The Wolves move to 11-2 on the year and have won 10 of its past 11 games.

Cardinal Stritch got on the board first when they scored a single in the opening inning of play. The Wolves put the first two runners on base via singles and then Cobber starting pitcher Hillary Rotunda snapped into a groove. Rotunda retired the final three batters of the first inning and then seven of the next nine batters in the second, third and fourth frames.

Routunda breezed through the five innings in the middle of the game.  She only allowed five hits and struck out three.

Concordia posted their lone run of the game when Dominique Giesen scored from third on a Kellie Morehouse sacrifice. Giesen singles to start the inning and then reached third when Mackenzie McCloud reached on an error by the catcher.

The Cobbers had a chance to take a lead in the fifth inning after Ashley Tibbetts hammered a two-out double. Unfortunately the Cardinal Stritch pitcher was able to get the next Concordia batter to end the inning.

Rotunda was credited with 6.0 innings pitched after the Wolves scored an unearned run with no outs in the bottom of the seventh. She scattered nine hits and struck out three while only allowing a single earned run. Rotunda did not give up an extra base hit on the day.

The middle part of the Cobber lineup accounted for all three hits in the game. Catcher Mackee Hoffman, hitting in the No.3 spot, was 1-for-3 while Tibbets went 1-for-2 and Giesen was 1-for-3 with the lone run scored for CC.

One of the bright spots for the Cobbers on the Florida trip was the improved play of their defense. Concordia only committed six miscues in the five games and heads north with a .961 fielding percentage. The Cobbers' opponents committed 16 errors and combined for a .900 fielding percentage.

Concordia will now return to Minnesota and play four games indoors in the West St. Paul Dome. The Cobbers will face Northwestern and Bethany Lutheran on Wednesday, Mar. 18 and then square off against Finlandia and Northwestern on Thursday, Mar. 19.