TUCSON, Ariz. – The Concordia University softball team has found a groove in Tucson. The Bulldogs put all phases of the game together on Thursday (March 7) while recording a 4-0 shutout of Presentation College (S.D.) and then a 15-1 run-rule trouncing of Waldorf University (Iowa) to close the day. Fine pitching performances were turned in by both sophomore Grace Bernhardt and Brittany Woolridge.
Head coach Shawn Semler’s squad has improved to 5-3 while riding a four-game win streak at the Tucson Invitational. Concordia had a day off on Wednesday to recharge for the second half of the road trip in Arizona.
“Our girls are really playing well right now,” Semler said. “They’re in that mode right now and in that groove. I think we’ve found a front part of our lineup that we really like. We’re trying to get some consistency with that but yet get a lot of kids in and see a lot of them in different situations. We want to make sure that once we get to the GPAC season we’ve got some flow going.”
Bernhardt was the biggest star of Thursday’s first game. She covered all seven innings and allowed only two hits. The native of St. Charles, Mo., even wiggled out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fourth inning. She did so by striking out two hitters and then by getting a fly out to center. Bernhardt struck out eight while notching the shutout of Presentation (1-15).
Bernhardt easily made the four runs stand up that Concordia put on the board over the first and second frames. Slugging third baseman Hhana Haro got things rolling with a two-run blast in the first inning. In that same frame, Jadyn Lindgren singled home Camry Moore, who reached on a double. Haro added a sacrifice fly in the second inning.
In continuing one of the themes of the day, the Bulldogs also struck early in the second game, piling up five runs in the first while up against Waldorf (3-4 entering the day). The big blow was a three-run triple clubbed by catcher Allysia Thayer. Haro (two hits in the second game) also knocked in another early tally, Moore brought home two with a base hit, Jamie Lefebure drove in three and Kylee Nixon sent in two more with a base hit in the fifth as part of the onslaught.
Pitching has been a big key to Concordia’s four-game win streak. During which, it has allowed a grand total of six runs. Like Bernhardt, Woolridge was nearly unhittable on this particular day. Of the two hits managed by the Warriors, one came on a bunt and another was a single up the middle. Woolridge worked a five-inning complete game.
“Grace and Brit really stepped up,” Semler said. “I think everyone knows what we’ve got with Camry, but if we’re going to do something really good in the GPAC we have to have depth. If they are able to throw like that, it would be amazing for us.”
Two games apiece are coming up Friday and Saturday for the Bulldogs. In Friday’s action at the Tucson Invite, Concordia will play 25th-ranked Valley City State University (N.D.) at 1:30 p.m. MT / 2:30 p.m. CT and then Dakota State University (S.D.) at 3:30 p.m. MT / 4:30 p.m. CT.