Program First Highlights Home Opener

MOORHEAD, Minn. (4/24/23)---The 2023 home opener will be one of the most memorable in program history. The Cobbers had their second game against Macalester suspended because of darkness after the ninth inning, with the score tied at 7-7. It is the first game called because of darkness at the Jake Christiansen Athletic Complex.

The first game of the home opener showed no signs of the 5-hour game day. Concordia gave up four runs in the first two innings of Game 1, scored their only run in the sixth inning and fell 4-1 in a game that lasted less than two hours.

The opener featured a combined 11 hits, and neither team committed a dingle error.

The Scots scored the opening the game's opening run on a couple of bloop, well-placed hits. They would make the score 4-0 when they added three runs on four hits in the second.

Cobber starting pitcher Karissa Finnigan found her groove in the third and held the Scots off the board for the final five frames. At one point, she retired 12 of the 13 batters she faced from the third to the seventh innings.

Concordia's lone run came courtesy of Finnigan when she hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Landry Maragos from third base after Maragos pinch ran for Kate Wensloff who led off the inning with a walk.

Hailey Pangracs recorded two of the team's three hits in the first game. She was 2-for-3. Kailee Falconer had the other base knock for CC.

Finnigan finished the game by throwing 7.0 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and striking out a pair.

The second game showed signs of turning into a marathon from the opening inning as both team's offenses were able to connect on hard hits and put the ball in play on a consistent basis.

The teams traded runs in the first inning before CC took a 3-1 lead with two runs in the second. Reese Hauck led off the inning with a single to left field. She would eventually score on a wild pitch. Pangracs drove in the other run with a 1-out single that scored Haleigh Lematta after Lematta singled down the left-field line.

Macalester countered with three runs in the third to retake the lead at 4-3 and push the back-and-forth battle farther down the tracks.

Senior Molly Wilde tied the game when she led off the bottom of the third with a solo line drive home run that cleared the center-field fence. The long ball will be Wilde's sixth of the year if the game holds up.

The Scots scored single runs in the fourth and fifth to grab a 6-4 lead before CC put up a 3-spot in the bottom of the fifth. The big hit in the inning came off the bat of Ellie Tofteland when she singled home two runs to make the score 7-6.

Neither team scored in the sixth, and then Macalester sent the game into extra innings when they came up with a 2-out RBI infield single. The run-scoring play came immediately after Falconer threw out the would-be game-tying run on a throw from left field.

Macalester loaded the bases in the top of the eighth, but CC was able to work out of the jam with a pair of fielder's choice ground outs.

The Cobbers had opportunities to win the game in the eighth and ninth innings but could not come up with a key hit with a runner on third with only one out in both frames.

The second game featured 30 combined hits. Macalester held an 18-12 margin in that stat for Game 2.

Concordia had four players with multiple hits in the finale. Wilde led the charge by going 3-for-5 with two RBI. Pangracs, Hauck and Lematta all had two hits each.

Mallory Leitner pitched all 9.0 innings for the Cobbers.

UP NEXT: Concordia will stay at home and host St. Benedict on Friday, Apr. 28 at 3:30 p.m.