Slyter's Reshuffle Leads To Sunshine Success

AUBURNDALE, Fla. (3/08/23)---Sometimes you just need to reshuffle the deck and see what happens. Cobber head coach Chad Slyter did just that in the second game on Tuesday against Rivier (N.H.) and the new hand dealt Concordia a 9-2 win that ended the team's winless streak in Florida.

The Cobbers' new-look lineup against the Raiders scored nine runs on 12 hits. Both totals are season highs for Concordia.

Concordia opened the day by falling 3-1 to Pitt.-Greensburg in a game that saw both teams posting eight hits.

The Cobbers' offense sped out of the gate in the second game, scoring four times in the first two innings. Those runs would be all that pitcher Karissa Finnigan would need, as she went the distance in the circle. Finnigan allowed six hits, two runs and struck out five to collect her second win of the season.

Offensively, the Cobbers had 10 players collect at least one hit, and were led by sophomore Hailey Pangracs. The Regina, Sask. product went 3-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs. The three hits tie her career high for a single game. She was also 3-for-4 last year in Florida against Neumann.  

Pangracs was the only CC player with more than one hit against Rivier, but was joined by Reese Hauck and Lexi Burke with two RBI. Hauck had the only extra-base hit for the Cobbers when she doubled down the line in the team's 4-run seventh inning. Burke's 2-run hit came in the seventh inning as well when she singled to center field immediately after Hauck's double.

Freshman Mallory Leitner had her best outing of the season in the circle in the first game. She started that game, went 5.1 innings and only allowed two runs and struck out four Pitt.-Greensburg hitters.

Pitt.-Greensburg scored a single run in the third, and added two more in the sixth. Those two runs would prove to be the difference in the game. Concordia was able to score their lone run in the game in the bottom of the seventh.

Molly Wilde continued her hot hand in the season when she connected on a 2-out double to left field that plated Emma Bowman who pinch ran for Kate Wensloff after Wensloff led off with a walk.    

First-year catcher Kate Gulbranson had three of the Cobbers' eight hits in the opener. She went 3-for-4 to record her second multiple-hit game of the year. She has at least one hit in four of the seven games she has appeared in this season.      

UP NEXT: Concordia will finally have a day off after playing eight games in their first four days in Florida. CC will return to action on Thursday, Mar. 9 when they face Mount Mary (Wis.) and Wentworth (Mass.).