Florida Trip Keeps Getting Better

CLERMONT, Fla. (2/27/16)—Concordia continued its successful visit to Florida by earning their second daily sweep on the spring trip. The Cobbers got a pitching gem from freshman Kali Covert to beat Johnson St. 1-0 in the opener and then erased a 3-0 deficit in the second game and beat Augustana (Ill.) 6-5.

The two wins bring Concordia's spring trip record to 5-3. The five wins is the most the team has had on a spring break trip since the 2006 season.

Covert had only pitched 4.0 innings on the trip before coming up with a two-hit masterpiece over 6.1 innings. She struck out three and got out of jams in the first, second and third innings before retiring nine of 10 batters in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames.

Covert ran into trouble in the seventh inning but then junior Abigail Haraldson took over with one out in the last frame and got two straight outs to record her first collegiate save.

Concordia outhit the Badgers 6-2 in the game and scored the game-winning run in the fourth inning when Covert helped her own cause by driving in Mackenzie McCloud who came up with a one-out single.

McCloud had a pair of hits in the game while junior All-MIAC outfielder Madison Little was 3-for-3 and had a stolen base.

The second game was a completely different story as the Cobbers and Vikings combined for 11 runs and 14 hits.

Augustana jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning before Concordia recorded back-to-back three-run frames in the third and fourth innings to take a 6-3 lead.

The 6-spot would be all the Haraldson needed to earn her fourth win of the year. She ran into trouble in the seventh inning by loading the bases on the first three batters. Haraldson then struck out the next batter before giving up a two-run single. On the scoring play the batter was thrown out at third base trying to get into scoring position. Haraldson then got a line drive out to second base to finish off the sweep.

Little stayed hot at the play going 2-for-4 and scoring two runs. She was 5-for-7 on the day and upped her team-leading batting average to .409.

Devonie Smith was the only other CC player with more than one hit in the second game. She was 2-for-3 and drove in two runs with a single in the fourth inning.

McCloud was 1-for-3 to earn a hit in both games. She is now hitting .391 in the team's eight games.             

WHAT'S NEXT
Concordia will have a day off before playing a doubleheader at NCAA Division II opponent Embry-Riddle. The Eagles are currently 9-5 on the year.