SEWARD, Neb. – The Concordia softball team swept Grace University Thursday evening to extend its win streak to six. The Bulldogs shortened both games to five innings winning 11-0 and 14-4. The Concordia pitching crew combined for 19 strikeouts.
The ‘Dogs improve to 24-7 on the season while the Royals fall to 3-35 this year.
Head coach Todd LaVelle said, “I was happy with how the girls played, especially with the big week of games. We didn’t allow playing back-to-back nights with it being cold and windy to become a factor. We pounded the ball hard which is always nice to see. We got a chance to see some other girls and they came to play. I’m happy with both our offensive and defensive play.”
Kylie Harpst started in the circle for the first game. No other Bulldog besides Harpst and catcher Diana Mendoza touched the ball until the final out of the third inning. Harpst sat down eight Royals in a row and struck out 11 in total. The junior threw the entire game and is now 4-0 on the season.
In the 11-0 victory, eight different Bulldogs crossed the plate at least one time. The second inning was the only frame that Concordia did not score in. The final offensive half inning for the ‘Dogs saw the most runs when they plated five on five hits.
Thanks to an explosive second inning, the Bulldogs had no problems grabbing another victory in game two. Just one batter shy of batting through the order twice, Concordia scored 12 runs on 10 hits in the frame. The inning featured five singles (AJ Wygant (2), Mikaela Keene, Leah Kalkwarf and Taylor Huff), two doubles (Julia Tyree, NiCole Dobernecker) and three triples (Dobernecker , Keene and Kalkwarf). All but two Bulldogs scored in the second part of the twin bill.
Kalkwarf said, “We came ready to play today and prepare for the weekend…We have mentally prepared this week and pretty much told ourselves that we just have to be ready.”
Kalkwarf led the team in scoring with five runs on two hits (single and triple) over the day.
Wygant had pitching duties for the game two of the day. The junior recorded eight strikeouts, including five in the first two innings. Wygant moves to 4-0 this season.
“Our sights are set on Morningside now, they’re ranked 14th in the country. The girls know we have to go through them to be conference champs. We’re going to rest up, warm up and heal up to be ready for Saturday,” LaVelle said.
The Bulldogs will return to GPAC play this weekend and travel to 14th-ranked Morningside College on Saturday. The conference double-header will begin at 1 p.m. in Sioux City, Iowa.