A No-Hit KKKKKKKKKKKKKKK Game

MOORHEAD, Minn. (3/27/21)---It was the Megan Gavin show on Saturday in Game 1 of the Cobbers doubleheader with North Central. Gavin threw a 5-inning, no-hitter and struck out 15 batters. That's correct, she recorded all 15 outs in the game with a K.

Gavin's 15-strikeout, no-hitter is the first in program history. Gavin walked a pair of batter and hit two but didn't allow a runner past second base after the first inning. The 15-strikeout performance marks the fifth time this season she has reached the double-digit K total.

Gavin's performance was matched by the Concordia offense which produced 36 runs in the two games as the Cobbers swept the Rams 15-0 and 21-0. Both games were called after the fifth inning.  

Valerie Kolstad had a home run in both games, had multiple hits in both games and Caitlin Culleton had five RBI in the second game.     

GAME 1 RECAP
The Cobbers made sure that Gavin wouldn't pitch in another low-scoring affair. CC put up crooked numbers in each of the first three innings and cruised to the 15-0 win. Concordia scored four times in the first and backed that up with consecutive 5-run frames. The big hit in the first inning was Kolstad's first long ball of the day. She connected on a 2-run homer after Kenzie Leither came through with a 2-run double.

The Cobbers scored five runs on two hits in the second and then plated five more runners on three hits in the third.

The final run of the game came in the fourth inning when Mikenna Becker doubled home Kate Loidolt.

Concordia belted out 11 hits in the opener. Kolstad was 2-for-3 and had four RBI. Riley Bergstrom was 2-for-2 and scored three runs while Leither also went 2-for-2 and had two RBI.  

Gavin put the leadoff batter on, in the first and second innings and both times she left them stranded on the base paths. The closest North Central came to not recording an out via the strikeout was in the fifth inning when catcher Ellie Tofteland almost picked a runner off first after Gavin hit her second batter of the game.

GAME 2 RECAP
Concordia scored 12 times in the bottom of the first in the finale to take all the suspense out of the DH sweep. Starting pitcher Amber Taylor started slowly in the top of the first and put runners on first and second but then a 4-6-3 double play ball go her out of the inning and pushed her on the way to her sixth victory of the year.

By the time Taylor entered the circle in the second inning, she was staked to a 12-0 lead after the offense came through with 12 runs on eight hits and sent 18 hitters to the plate.

Kolstad went yard for the second straight game in the first inning. This time the HR to left field came on her second trip to the plate. She drove the line drive over the fence which scored Leither from first. The other big hit in the inning came from Culleton who started her RBI bonanza by driving in two runs with a double to center field.

The Cobbers would add six more runs in the second and then three more in the fourth. Culleton had an RBI single in the second and a 2-run single in the fourth.

Culleton went 3-for-3 with five RBI as the Cobbers outhit North Central 17-4. Amy Quast, Kolstad, Karissa Finnigan and Hannah Wilke all had 2-hit games.

Taylor pitched 3.0 innings and allowed only three hits and struck out a pair. Cassie Bohnsack pitched a scoreless fourth frame and Tori Herrboldt gave up a 2-out walk and then finished the game with a ground out to third base.

UP NEXT: Concordia will finish off the back-to-back, home non-conference doubleheaders on Sunday, Mar. 28 when they face Minn.-Morris at 2 p.m.        

RECAP SPONSOR: Today's recap sponsor is Eventide Senior Living Communities. Thank you, Eventide for your continued support of Cobber athletics.