OTTAWA, Kan. – It had been nearly two weeks since the Concordia University softball team had taken to the diamond in game action. In somewhat of an impromptu doubleheader, the Bulldogs took both games from Ottawa University (Kan.) on Friday afternoon (March 22). Concordia won by scores of 10-5 (eight innings) and 5-3 while extending its win streak that began in Tucson, Ariz.
Head coach Shawn Semler’s squad has moved to 11-3 overall. The Bulldogs have won 10 games in a row since a 1-3 start.
“The biggest thing was our ability to stick with it and work through some of the mistakes we made,” Semler said. “We still managed to get things done and came up with some big hits in the end when we needed them. We had some big defensive plays that really helped too.
“There were no complaints about being on the road today for eight hours. They were getting after it so I was pleased about that.”
Sophomore Tori Homolka has been swinging a hot bat no matter whether she’s been placed at shortstop or first base. She had four more hits in the opener on Friday while continuing to be a catalyst atop the lineup. Homolka belted a home run leading off game one in a four-hit performance. In that contest, Concordia was forced to rally from a 4-3 deficit in the sixth inning. That’s when Homolka doubled and run-scoring hits from Hhana Haro and Kylee Nixon edged the Bulldogs in front.
Concordia eventually had to respond when the Braves (10-10) pushed across a run in the seventh to necessitate an eighth inning. The Bulldogs exploded for five runs to pull away with it. Not only did Homolka go 4-for-5, Camry Moore equaled that performance with a 4-for-5 day of her own and Nixon and Savannah Robertson added three hits apiece. Moore earned the win in the circle while tossing all eight frames.
In the second game, Homolka got Concordia going again with a leadoff single. She eventually scored on Moore’s RBI single in the first. Then in the second inning, Haro delivered a two-run single and Moore drove in another run with a base hit. Behind pitcher Brittany Woolridge, the Bulldogs hung onto the lead and added an insurance run with an RBI single by Jenessa Jarvis in the sixth.
“She had quite a day,” Semler said of Homolka. “Camry hit the ball hard today too. Savannah hit the ball really well. They did a lot of our hitting damage.
“The biggest thing we wanted was to make sure we played at least one more time before conference play against Doane. They’re pretty good and we didn’t want to go into that with a two-and-a-half-week layoff.”
The hope is to open up conference play as scheduled on Wednesday (March 27) with a doubleheader versus Doane (8-10, 0-0 GPAC). First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. CT from Plum Creek Park in Seward. In the most recent GPAC poll, Doane was rated fourth and Concordia fifth.