ORANGE CITY, Iowa – The pitching arm of Megan Eurich continues to keep the Concordia University Softball team close with top-notch competition. Once again, the Bulldogs failed to find enough offense as they fell twice on Friday (April 5), slipping by scores of 2-0 and 4-0 at the hands of 11th-ranked Northwestern. Eurich threw all 12 Concordia innings on the day while locked in duels with Red Raider pitchers Kameryn Etherington and Kate Kralik.
Head Coach Brock Culler’s squad now stands at 12-20 overall (2-6 GPAC) after a four-game week on the road within the GPAC. Culler took several positives away from the doubleheader with the defending GPAC regular season champs.
“We pitched and defended well enough to win both games tonight,” Culler said. “Our pitching and defense is championship level. Offensively, we can get runners on and then the stop sign goes up. It’s a little frustrating for us, but we’ll go back to work.”
In Friday’s game one in Orange City, Iowa, Eurich and Etherington matched each other zero for zero through the first four frames. Northwestern got the only two runs it needed with the help of a Bulldog error in the fifth. Runs came home on back-to-back singles generated by Gwen Mikkelsen and Etherington. In game two, the Red Raiders put one run on the board apiece in the first, second, third and fifth innings. Mikkelson did the job at the top of the lineup with three hits, including two doubles.
Offensively, Concordia continues to search for answers. In game one, it failed to score in the first and sixth innings despite leadoff singles from Aubrey Bruning in both instances. Taylor Glause then led the way in game two with a pair of hits, a sacrifice bunt and a stolen base. Collectively, the Bulldogs were limited to a combined 10 hits for the day (all singles).
The Gretna, Neb., native Eurich is showing she can hold down even the very best lineups in the GPAC. Eurich fired a shutout at Hastings on Tuesday and then threw six innings without surrendering an earned run in Friday’s first contest. Eurich has lowered her season ERA to an impressive 2.39. The difference on Friday was Concordia’s lack of punch at the plate and its four errors in the field (compared to none for Northwestern). The red-hot Red Raiders (30-2, 8-0 GPAC) have won 13-straight games.
Said Culler of Eurich, “I was really proud of Megs tonight again. These batters are seeing her six, seven, eight times and they’re still baffled. She’s just as good in inning 13 as she was in inning two. We just have to get something going offensively. If we can break the seal, the floodgates can open. We’re just waiting for that.”
A cluster of home games is coming up in the middle of the month. Next on the schedule will be the April 12 home doubleheader versus Jamestown (18-9, 4-4 GPAC). First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. CT that evening from Plum Creek Park in Seward.