SIOUX CITY, Iowa – The Concordia University softball team waited until the late innings to bust loose offensively as part of a formula that worked well enough for it to grab two conference victories on Sunday afternoon (April 14). Slugger Hhana Haro led the way in what amounted to wins by scores of 5-1 (eight innings) and 11-7 over Mount Marty. The games were played at SYA Riverside Sports Complex in Sioux City, Iowa.
It was an extended weekend stay in Sioux City for head coach Shawn Semler’s squad, which also won twice at Briar Cliff on Saturday. At 9-3 in the GPAC (20-6 overall), the Bulldogs remain tight near the top of the GPAC with Morningside (12-2) and No. 20 Midland (10-2).
“We let a couple opportunities go early in game one,” Semler said. “The matchup scared me the whole time because we played on a pretty big field against a fast, fast team with 80-something stolen bases. They run and run. Our pitchers shut down their speed and that helped us out a lot. Late in that first game we just put together some hits and the top of our lineup got it done. Hhana came up with a huge hit down the right field line.”
The Lancers (17-19, 8-8 GPAC) had all kinds of trouble dealing with Haro. In nine plate appearances on Sunday, the Concordia star third baseman reached base six times while going 4-for-6 with a home run and six RBIs. Haro finally broke a 0-0 tie in the eighth inning of game one by delivering a two-run single. The Bulldogs went on to score three more times, including two via a Kylee Nixon double, while building a cushion in extras.
A day after connecting for the first two home runs of her college career, freshman Camry Moore worked all eight innings of game one. She allowed the single run on five hits and one walk and struck out six. Moore then added a pair of singles and a walk while playing first base in game two.
In that second game, Concordia got on top in the first when Tori Homolka tripled and scored on a Haro sacrifice fly. Mount Marty got a run in the bottom half and the score remained 1-1 until the Lancers took the lead with another run in the fourth. Haro’s homer to lead off the sixth gave the Bulldogs the lead for good. In the same frame, Jadyn Lindgren tripled home a run and MacKinsey Schmidt added an RBI single. Concordia staked itself to a commanding 11-4 lead in a seventh inning that included a two-run single from Jenessa Jarvis.
Senior Brittany Woolridge took the ball in the circle in game two and whirled six innings in the process of pushing her season record to 10-1. Woolridge was charged with allowing all seven Mount Marty runs.
The script was a bit different on Sunday as compared to Saturday. In the triumphs at Briar Cliff, the Bulldogs jumped out to big leads with a combined 13 runs in the first inning of the twin bill. The pair of sweeps in Sioux City was exactly what Concordia needed for it to have a shot at winning a GPAC regular season title.
“For Briar Cliff to split with Midland today shows that anything can happen,” Semler said. “We just have to keep fighting through. We’re trying to take care of business when we can. That’s all we can ask is to keep plugging away. We have Midland on Tuesday – it doesn’t get any bigger than that.”
First pitch from Fremont, Neb., on Tuesday is set for 3 p.m. CT. The Warriors (20-6, 10-2 GPAC) are ranked 20th in the NAIA coaches’ poll.