SOUTH EUCLID, Ohio – The Concord University softball team finished up its road trip by going 1-1 against Notre Dame at Normandy Field Sunday afternoon in Mountain East Conference action.
Notre Dame (17-28, 12-16 MEC) took game one 7-3 before CU (15-23, 12-16) won game two by the same score.
Game 1: Notre Dame 7 – Concord 3
NDC tallied four runs in the second inning to grab the lead form Concord on its way to a game one win.
The Mountain Lions scored a run in their two at-bats as an RBI groundout in the first plated senior catcher / outfielder
Chelsea Shepherd before freshman outfielder
Dani Bloomingdale came in on a fielder's choice in the second.
Notre Dame wrestled the lead away from CU in the bottom of the second with four runs and added a fifth run in the fifth to open a up 5-2 advantage.
Concord was able to creep to within two runs of the Falcons in the top of the sixth as sophomore pitcher / outfielder
Darby Fitzpatrick knocked a two-out double into left field that brought home senior third baseman
Alycea Watson.
However, NDC countered with two scores in the sixth.
Sophomore second baseman / shortstop
Jenna Witt recorded two hits in the game, both doubles. Junior outfielder
Abby Beatty and Fitzpatrick added a double of their own.
Freshman pitcher
Tara Williams (1-3) was charged with five earned runs in six innings in the circle.
Game 2: Concord 7 – Notre Dame 3
Concord plated five runs in the sixth inning to break a 2-2 draw with NDC and pull away from the Falcons late in the nightcap.
Just one run was scored in the first three innings, a second-inning tally from Notre Dame.
The Mountain Lions jumped into the lead momentarily in the fourth inning. The first run came via an RBI double from freshman catcher / outfielder
Kayle Starnes. The Conover, North Carolina native then scored her own run on an infield single by Witt.
Notre Dame came back with a run in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game contest until CU's big inning in the sixth.
With two outs and runners on first and second, a Falcons' error not only kept the inning alive for Concord, but plated the go-ahead run in the game—Starnes. Sophomore first baseman / pitcher
Rachel Pritchard made NDC pay for not recording the potential final out of the inning as she blasted her first career home run—a three-run homer--to propel the Mountain Lions to a 6-2 lead. Sophomore utility
Amber Stokes added an RBI in the frame to complete the scoring.
Notre Dame plated a run in the seventh, but was unable to get any closer.
Fitzpatrick improved to 10-8 on the season by tossing a complete game, scattering three runs and 10 hits.
Pritchard, Starnes and Witt all had two hits in the game. One of Witt's hits went for a double which broke the single-season doubles record at Concord. The Harpers Ferry, West Virginia native now has 21 doubles this season.
Pritchard added three RBI in the nightcap. In four games over the weekend, the Wilmington, Delaware native collected 10 RBI.
Concord closes out its regular season at home with four games, starting 1:00 p.m. Friday against West Virginia Wesleyan.
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