Softball welcomes Mount Marty for Sunday senior day
SEWARD, Neb. – Five seniors will be honored when the Concordia University softball plays host for the final time during the 2015 regular season on Sunday. Mount Marty will serve as the opponent with first pitch set for 1 p.m. from Plum Creek Park. A live webcast will be streamed via the Concordia Sports Network.
The Bulldog softball program will provide free hot dogs, brats, chips and water. In return Concordia asks for free will donations that will go to local umpire Tom Morgan, who recently lost his wife to cancer.
Head coach Todd LaVelle’s squad improved to 11-3 at home following Tuesday’s doubleheader sweep of Central Christian College. Concordia (19-16, 6-6 GPAC) then dropped a pair of games in Seward to rival Nebraska Wesleyan on Tuesday.
Bulldog junior Julia Tyree has continued her impressive work at the plate. She has begun the week with six hits in nine at bats. Over her last 14 games, the native of Benicia, Calif., is 20-for-35 (.571) with five doubles, a triple, four home runs, 12 runs and 15 RBIs. On the season, she’s hitting ..453 with six homers, 30 RBIs, a .568 on-base percentage and .737 slugging percentage (all team-leading statistics).
In the circle, freshman Michaela Woodward has started each of Concordia’s last five GPAC games. In conference contests only, the native of Cortland, Neb., sports a 5-4 record, 4.39 ERA and 41 strikeouts over 51 innings of work. Woodward has also been stellar with the bat. She’s second to Tyree, among Bulldogs, with a .402 batting average.
Tyree and Woodward are two of five regulars in the lineup who boast batting averages above .300. The others are Becca Walker (.376), MaKenna Tracy (.348) and Shelby Schacher (.315). Regan Doiel is just under .300 at .298. As a team, Concordia is hitting .317 (third best in the GPAC).
Meanwhile, the Lancers (10-19, 3-11 GPAC) have lost four-consecutive games and 10 of their last 12 overall. Among conference teams, Mount Marty ranks 10th in both runs per game (4.04) and ERA (5.17). Amber Krause tops the squad with a .386 batting average. She has collected 12 doubles, three triples and a home run. She is also the team’s ace pitcher having worked 92.2 of the team’s 176 innings pitched. She is 4-12 with a 5.44 ERA.
Following Sunday’s doubleheader, the GPAC regular season comes to a close next week with a trio of GPAC road doubleheaders. First up is Tuesday’s twin bill at Midland (16-19, 8-6 GPAC).