Victory Door Opens In Sweep At Minn.-Morris

MORRIS, Minn. (4/23/15)—After a two-week period of close calls and knocking on the door of victory, Concordia finally had the door open as they swept Minn.-Morris 5-4 and 12-0. The Cobbers outlasted the Cougars in 11 innings in the opener and then exploded for 12 runs in five innings in the finale.

Concordia, who had dropped seven straight games by three or fewer runs, earned their second sweep of the month. With the two victories the Cobbers move to 11 wins which marks the first time since 2010 the team has reached a double-digit win total. CC is now 11-22 overall.

The first game was dead even  through the first 10 innings until Concordia scored two in the 11th and then held Morris to a single run in the bottom half of the inning.

Both teams scored a pair of runs in the sixth frame and then both added a single score in the 10th. Concordia then got the two runs in the 11th when Mackenzie Jensen put down a perfect bunt for a single which scored Kayla Nack from third. Nack started the inning at second base due to the international tiebreaker rule which has a runner start at second base at the start of the 10th inning.

Jensen then stole second and advanced to third on a ground out. She was able to score on the play on a throwing error from the catcher.

Abigail Haraldson then got out of a first-and-second situation in the bottom of the inning to record her fifth win of the year. The Cougars scored their lone run on a sacrifice bunt and a single. The next batter then singled to right field but then a fielder's choice and a pop fly to shortstop secured the win for the Cobbers.

Both teams had eight hits in the first game. Madison Little led all batters as she went 3-for-6 from the leadoff spot. Ashley Tibbetts was 2-for-5 and drove a pair of runs. Jensen, Nack and Devonie Smith had the other base hits for CC.

Haraldson once again gave Concordia a quality start. She struck out a career-high 13 batters over the course of 11 innings. Haraldson only allowed eight hits and gave up two earned runs.  In her last five outings she has pitched 38.0 innings and only allowed nine earned runs while striking out 39 batters. Her 11-inning performance lowered her ERA to a team-leading 3.36 for the season.

Haraldson has 85 strikeouts on the season.

The second game was over in the first inning. The Cobbers scored four times in the opening inning and then let Hillary Rotunda shut the door on the Cougar offense.

Rotunda took the cue from Haraldson and didn't give up a run in the five-inning game. She allowed six hits and struck out four. Rotunda has only allowed nine earned runs in her last four outings and has 19 strikeouts in the last 25 innings of work. She also lowered her ERA to 3.41 for the year which is a full two runs lower than last season's ERA total.
The Cobbers had a season-high 14 hits in the second game. Five of the top six hitters in the CC lineup posted multiple-hit games. Smith led the way with a 3-for-4 performance. She also drove in two runs and scored twice.

Mackee Hoffman was 2-for-4 with a game-high three RBI. Little, Tibbetts and Dominique Giesen were the other members of the multiple-hit club. Little and Tibbetts both scored three runs while Giesen had a pair of RBI.

Little upped her team-lead batting average to .375 for the year while Tibbetts went above the .300 mark. She is now batting .304 and has a team-best .471 slugging percentage.

Concordia will look to stay on the winning track when they play at St. Mary's on Saturday, Apr. 26 at 1 p.m. in the final series of the conference season. The Cobbers will then close out the 2015 campaign on Monday, Apr. 27 when they host Bemidji State at 3:30 p.m.