Gavin Climbs To No.2 In Second Straight Sweep

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. (5/03/22)---On a day where Concordia swept Augsburg 6-4 and 2-1 to post their fifth straight win, senior pitcher Megan Gavin struck 17 batters in the two games to move into the No.2 spot on the MIAC's all-time strikeout list.

Gavin earned the save in the opener by pitching a scoreless 3.0 innings and striking out six. She then went the distance in Game 2 and fanned 11 more to bring her career K total to 699. Over the course of the two games she passed Janet Nagle (696) and Maria Bye (695) who were All-Americans for St. Thomas during the early 2000s.

The 5-game win streak has pushed the Cobbers up four spots in the MIAC standings. CC is now 12-18 overall and 6-10 in conference play. Augsburg loses for the sixth straight game and finishes their season with an 11-26 mark in all games and a 3-19 record in league play.

Cobber head coach Chad Slyter changed the pitching rotation for the final road DH of the season. Karissa Finnigan got the start in Game and gave CC 4.0 solid innings. She allowed five hits and two earned runs and came away with her second win in as many days.

Gavin entered the game in the fifth inning and struck out six of the 11 batters she faced. She didn't concede a hit and fanned six to pick up her first save of the season.

Concordia won the opener with a pair of runs in the second, and then rallied from a 3-2 deficit by scoring three runs in the fifth. They would add an extra insurance run in the seventh.

Drew Syverson and Danielle Lyon provided run-scoring doubles in the second, while Emma Redlin had a 2-RBI double in the fifth frame. Kate Wensloff drove home the Cobbers' sixth run when she singled to center field with 1-out in the seventh.

Concordia outhit Augsburg 9-5 in Game 1. Kenzie Leither came through with the only multiple-hit game for CC. She went 2-for-4 and scored two runs from the leadoff spot.

The second inning was once again kind to the Cobbers as they posted their only two runs of the game in the frame. CC scored the two runs without the help of a hit. Concordia loaded the bases on an error, walk and hit by pitch. They scored the first run on a sacrifice fly from Valerie Kolstad and then added the game winner on a back end of a delayed double steal.

Gavin made sure that the two runs would hold up. She only allowed four hits and didn't walk a batter to earn her ninth win of the year.

Both teams had four hits in the finale. Leither, Wensloff, Syverson and Kolstad all had single hits in the 1-run win.

STREAK EXTENDERS: Wensloff and Syverson had a hit in each game to extend their hit and on-base streaks. Wensloff has now hit safely in six straight games and has reached base safely in eight straight. Syverson has a 5-game hit streak and a 7-game on-base string.   
 
UP NEXT: Concordia will finish off the 2022 season when they host St. Scholastica on Wednesday, May 4 at 3 p.m. The DH will be the first games played on the Cobber softball diamond.