Now that the Concord Softball team is starting to get the hang of winning, the task at hand for the Lady Lions is to secure a spot in the WVIAC Tournament later this month.
To do that, CU can't trip up against teams behind them in the conference standings.
The 9th-place Lady Lions kept their conference record at .500 with a split of a doubleheader at 11th-place Wheeling Jesuit Friday afternoon, winning the first game 6-2 before dropping the nightcap 9-8.
The top 12 teams in the WVIAC qualify for the conference tournament.
Concord ended the first day of its northern road trip at 14-11, 4-4 WVIAC. The Lady Lions have won nine of their last 11 games. WJU is 5-18, 3-7.
GAME ONE
CU starting pitcher Tamara Smith kept the Lady Cardinals in check, scattering eight hits in a complete game victory.
Meanwhile, the Lady Lions took command of the proceedings with a five-run rally in the top of the 2nd. Kaylyn Klatt hit an RBI single, followed by three straight run-scoring doubles. Samantha Clement brought in a pair of runs with her two-base hit, Becca Gleason brought in Clement, and Kristen McClure drove in Gleason.
Clement added an RBI single in the 3rd to end the Lady Lions' scoring.
GAME TWO
A late-game outbreak of 'Home Run Derby' decided the outcome.
Each team scored six times in the 2nd inning, Concord playing small ball and Wheeling Jesuit getting a big fly.
In the top of the inning, Alex Brown drew a bases-loaded walk for the first run, then Klatt drove in a run with a fielder's choice grounder and Clement clouted an RBI single, with Klatt scoring on a WJU error. Later, Brooke Bowling singled to center to drive in Clement and McClure another RBI single.
In its half of the inning Wheeling Jesuit scratched out three runs, then got a two-out, three-run home run by Samantha Kozbial to tie the game at 6-6.
The Lady Cardinals scored once in the bottom of the 3rd to go ahead 7-6, but then the home runs started to fly.
Concord's Katie Billingslea tied the game with a solo shot in the top of the 5th, and a similar shot by Bowling in the 6th put the Lady Lions in front.
But, in the bottom of the 6th, Courtney Kurowski and Ashley McSweeney each hit solo home runs to put WJU ahead 9-8.
In the top of the 7th, Mariel Wilson reached on an error with one out, but Cardinals pitcher Olivia Wamsley got the last two outs to salvage the split.
The Lady Lions, who swept a doubleheader against Salem International in Athens Thursday night
