ORANGE CITY, Iowa – Sophomore MacKinsey Schmidt belted a grand slam and freshman Camry Moore added a homer in an offensive breakout that fueled a 10-2 victory in game one of a Tuesday (April 23) doubleheader at Northwestern. Unfortunately, the Concordia University softball team was unable to sustain that firepower in a 2-1 game two loss. The Bulldogs have split each of their last three league doubleheaders.
This was the first of three GPAC twin bills head coach Shawn Semler’s squad will play in the final week of the regular season. Concordia is now 23-9 overall and 12-6 in league action (third place).
“I loved how we came out in game one with timely hitting and great pitching,” Semler said. “It was good to see Mack break out and start squaring up balls again. That will be good for us the rest of the season. In game two we just struggled with a lack of discipline at the plate. We had a few chances but couldn’t string anything together. (Brittany) Woolridge threw great. It’s just so hard to keep a good team like Northwestern down when the offense isn’t putting up runs.”
After engaging in 1-0 contests in three of their previous four games, the Bulldogs busted out with some welcome offensive production in the opener on Tuesday afternoon. With two outs in the top of the first, Jadyn Lindgren delivered the type of clutch two-run single that had been missing in recent action. That opened up the floodgates. The major back breaker for the Red Raiders (16-19, 9-7 GPAC) was the grand slam crushed by Schmidt in the fifth to push the Concordia lead to 8-2.
Moore also emerged as one of the big stars of game one. She covered all seven innings in the circle, allowed two runs on seven hits and no walks and struck out four. She tacked on the game’s final run with a solo homer in the sixth as part of a 2-for-5 performance at the plate. In that same contest, Schmidt went 3-for-4 with two runs and Hhana Haro and Tori Homolka both went 2-for-4. Haro (4-for-7 on the day) drove in two runs.
It just didn’t translate to game two. Northwestern starting pitcher Sydnee Isom covered six innings, surrendering one run on six hits. That lone run occurred in the seventh and allowed the Bulldogs to extend the game. Elanna Osthoff led off the seventh with a double and later scored on Schmidt’s sacrifice fly.
Fresh off a shutout at Hastings over the weekend, Woolridge turned in another quality performance in the circle for Concordia. Woolridge (11-2) struck out seven Red Raiders and gave up just two runs. The second one was a walk-off winner for Northwestern. The home team celebrated after Emily Strasser lined a base hit to chase home a run and end the contest with one out in the bottom of the seventh.
The home schedule has been light, but the Bulldogs will have the opportunity to play their final four games of the regular season at Plum Creek Park. Concordia will be right back to action on Wednesday when it will host College of Saint Mary (13-25, 6-10 GPAC) in a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 5 p.m. CT in Seward.