Concordia Has A New Strikeout Queen

WEST ST. PAUL, Minn. (3/21/18)---Move over Erin Gunderson, Concordia has a new career strikeout queen. Abby Haraldson's two-out strikeout in the second inning of the Cobbers' game against Bethany Lutheran pushed her ahead of Gunderson as the school's all-time leader in strikeouts.

Haraldson finished the game with eight K's and helped Concordia beat the Vikings 11-1 in the first of two games at the West St. Paul Dome. The Cobbers lost 7-2 to Bemidji State in the second game of the day.

Haraldson fanned a pair of batters in the first inning against Bethany Lutheran to tie Gunderson's record of 371 set from 1999-02. Haraldson then got the fourth batter in the second inning to swing at a high fastball and became the program's all-time strikeout leader.

Haraldson started the game by retiring seven of the first eight batters she faced and then finished the contest by getting six of the final seven hitters out as she won her third game of the season.

The Cobber offense did all of their damage in the first three innings of play. Concordia sent 14 hitters to the plate and scored nine runs in the first inning and then tacked on two more runs in the third inning to bolt to an 11-0 lead.

Bethany Lutheran would plate their only run of the game in the bottom of the third inning on a two-out single that found its way through the left side of the Cobber defense.

Kayla Nack, who was celebrating her birthday on Wednesday, got the CC offense rolling when she tripled to right center field to plate the opening run of the day. Nack went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs as she helped Concordia outhit the Vikings 12-3.

Elizabeth Asp, Madi Veith and Maycen Kirchner all had two-hit games for CC. Sydney Roberts matched the three RBI game of Nack as she went 1-for-3 and drove in three runs.

The Cobbers ran into a solid hitting Bemidji State team in the second game. Concordia freshman pitcher Megan Gavin did a good job of moving the ball in and out of the zone and had an above average change-up but the Beavers were able to put together multiple-run innings in the first and fifth innings to pull away from CC.

Concordia finished with five hits in the game. Freshman Riley Irman went 2-for-3 to lead the Cobber offense. Her single through the right side of the infield scored the Cobbers' second run in the fifth inning.

Lexi Olek, Taylor Erholtz and Roberts had the other three hits for Concordia. Erholtz had the other RBI when she doubled to right center field.

Gavin finished the game with five strikeouts and allowed five earned runs.

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will stay in the Twin Cities and finish their two-day, four-game Dome extravaganza when they play Finlandia (Mich.) at 10:00 a.m. and Bemidji State at 12:00 p.m. Both games will be at the West St. Paul Dome.