SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Wednesday (May 5) marked the most thrilling day of conference postseason play for the Concordia University Softball program since it celebrated a GPAC tournament championship in Sioux City, Iowa, in 2015. The Bulldogs returned to that very location (Jensen Softball Complex) for the 2021 conference tournament and now have the upper hand in the Morningside Bracket thanks to wins by scores of 5-1 over Doane and 9-3 over No. 13 Morningside. Concordia had not beaten the Mustangs since 2017.
The 2-0 day means that Head Coach Shawn Semler’s squad (31-9) will play in the finals of the Morningside Bracket beginning at 2 p.m. CT on Thursday against an opponent to be determined. The GPAC tournament features separate pods of four teams at both Morningside and Midland.
“The lightning delay (in the Morningside game) was excruciating because we were on a roll,” Semler said. “We wanted to finish it and get out of there. We were a little worried with how they started the sixth inning. Then Camry (Moore) shut them down and hit that ball so far out. We got those two back and we could breathe a little bit again. It was a great win – it was fun. We need to cap it off tomorrow. That’s where my thought is. We’ll enjoy it tonight, but we have to get our minds back on the job in front of us.”
As Moore tweeted after toppling Morningside, it was a “team win.” But the exploits of Moore are to be celebrated. The former high school state champion was a workhorse in covering all 14 innings in the circle on Wednesday. She also delivered back breakers with the bat when she belted a solo homer in the fifth and a two-run bomb in the seventh while burning Mustang pitching.
After being shut down through the first three frames by Morningside pitcher Lisa Bolton, the Bulldogs came alive in the fourth. Kylee Nixon produced an RBI single to score Moore to tie the game, 1-1. Two batters later, on her birthday, Regan Karel unloaded for a three-run blast to straight away center. Leading 4-1 at the time, Concordia never did look back. It even waited out a lightning delay of roughly an hour and 45 minutes before soaking up the victory.
Right off the delay, Moore allowed two runs in the bottom of the sixth, pulling the Mustangs within three (6-3). Moore (19-4) quickly made amends with the aforementioned two-run blast. Her pitching line read: seven innings, eight hits, three earned runs, no walks and three strikeouts. She relied upon error-free defense behind her to record outs on eight fly balls and 10 grounders. Moore also fired a complete game against Doane, surrendering five hits.
“These older kids on our team felt like we could play with Morningside,” Semler said. “We had the Oklahoma City win under our belt. We felt like this is our time. We didn’t see that invincible team anymore and had good at bats against their ace.”
While Karel and Moore had the big swings against Morningside, Hhana Haro keeps spraying bullets all over the ballpark. She went 4-for-8 on the day and extended her hitting streak to 11 games (while also pushing her career hit total to 199). Plenty of others contributed. Nixon went 3-for-6 with three RBIs on the day and Brena Brown crushed a game-tying homer against Doane. That blast ignited a five-run fifth that proved the difference against the rival Tigers. Julia Van Wey added two hits in the morning game.
In the double-elimination format, the Bulldogs have put themselves in the driver’s seat. Due to multiple weather interruptions, the Doane-Mount Marty game was postponed until tomorrow. In other words, Concordia’s opponent at 2 p.m. CT on Thursday could still be any of the other three teams in the bracket. The Bulldogs are one win away from advancing to the GPAC Championship Series to be held on Saturday at the home park of the highest remaining seed.
Said Semler, “It’s fun watching this team play with confidence – and that’s the team I love to coach.”