TUCSON, Ariz. – A stretch of 12 games in eight days is in the books for the Concordia University Softball team. On the final day of their stay at the Tucson Invitational, the Bulldogs pummeled No. 19 Olivet Nazarene University (Ill.), 12-4, in six innings before falling to red hot Aquinas College (Mich.), 11-2, in five innings. Julia Van Wey drove in six runs as part of the victory over the Tigers.
Head Coach Tatum Edwards’ squad will head north with an overall record of 11-9. Concordia went 2-6 during its stay in Tucson, Ariz., where three of the defeats came by the margin of a single run.
“The first game we hit the ball hard,” Edwards said. “We really paid attention to what we needed to do and didn’t let the last game we played against them affect how we came out today.
“We have a lot of potential. We have so many good pieces. We have to figure out how it fits together every single time we play. We have really good fight. We have to make sure we’re not beating ourselves. The thing I like is this team shows a lot of fight. We don’t give up. We have some things to work but there’s so much potential.”
Van Wey capitalized on her opportunities with runners on base. The San Diego, Calif., native cleared the bases in the third with a double and then abruptly ended the contest by the run rule in the sixth with a two-run double. Van Wey also produced a sac fly as part of her big day. In the Nos. 2 and 3 spots in the lineup, Camry Moore and Kylee Nixon came through with two hits apiece. Moore scored three runs and drove in three more. At the top of the order, Caitlyn McGarvie singled and scored three times. At the bottom, Aubrey Bruning collected two hits and two runs.
The run support versus Olivet Nazarene made a winner out of Moore, who covered six innings in the circle. She allowed four runs on eight hits and one walk and fanned eight hitters.
Despite three hits from McGarvie in the second game, the outcome against Aquinas (14-3) was a different story. The Saints outhit Concordia, 11-7, and got all of their runs over the game’s first three innings while running away with it. Aquinas received votes nationally in this week’s poll. Zoie Isom went 2-for-3 with an RBI as part of the Bulldog offensive attack.
The Bulldogs will now make their way back to Nebraska. Next up on the schedule is a doubleheader at Nebraska Wesleyan slated for 5 p.m. CT on March 17. The start of GPAC play will follow with a twin bill at Midland on March 19.