FORT WORTH, TEXAS – The Concordia softball team went 2-1 in its opening day of the season. The Bulldogs played the first of two days of the Cowtown Classic on Friday. Concordia defeated Bethel College (8-1) and Baker University (14-3) and dropped a 4-2 game to sixth-ranked Oklahoma City.
Head coach Todd LaVelle said, “When you look at the overall day, you have to be really happy with it being the first day out. We have some things to work on but we’ll go out tomorrow and it’ll be business as usual.”
In the first game of the day, the Bulldogs went up against sixth-ranked Oklahoma City. The Stars outscored the ‘Dogs, 4-2. Kylie Harpst led off the sixth frame and scored for the Bulldogs. Leah crossed the plate after Jamie Lefebure batted a double in the final inning.
“We had a big one go up against with the No. 6 team in the nation,” LaVelle said. “They knocked us out of the national tournament last year…I was really pleased with how the girls competed. We had a chance at the end of the game with runners on second and third down by two runs with no outs but we didn’t quite get it done. We at least put ourselves in the position at the end to do so. That spring boarded us into the next games.”
Bethel was up next for the Bulldogs. Concordia topped the Threshers, 8-1 with six different players scoring. The Bulldogs scored four runs in the fourth inning and nearly batted through the order in the frame. The defense contributed by committing just one error and allowed one runner to make it past second base. Five of the seven innings, four or less Threshers came up to the plate. The Bulldog pitching crew struck out seven batters.
In the final contest, Concordia trounced the Baker Wildcats, 14-3. Baker had just knocked off the fourth-ranked team in the nation prior to facing the Bulldogs and were on a wave of momentum but the ‘Dogs didn’t seem to notice. The fourth inning explosion saw nine runs on 13 at bats. Julia Tyree went 3-for-4 in the box and batted in one run.
LaVelle said, “We went against a team that wasn’t the same status as Oklahoma City but we still came out and took care of business. The girls went to the plate and attacked. Multiple players hit well and we hung 14 points on them. We played good defense to hold them to three also.”
The squad will be back in action tomorrow as it faces Tabor College at 9 a.m. and William Penn University at 11 a.m. in the Cowtown Classic in Texas.