South Euclid, Ohio - Â The Concord University Softball Team picked up a doubleheader sweep over Notre Dame, 4-1 and 11-2, Tuesday afternoon at Normandy Field in Mountain East Conference play.
Concord improves to 19-30 and 10-18 against MEC teams. Notre Dame is now 27-21 and 16-12 in the conference.
Game 1: Concord 4 – Notre Dame 1
It was a pitchers' duel early on with both starters throwing scoreless innings until Concord broke it open in the top of the fourth inning plating four Mountain Lions.
The four-run inning began with a one-out double by sophomore outfielder/pitcher
Rachael Koller, followed by a walk. The next batter, sophomore infielder
Courtney Raines, brought them in with a long ball over the left field wall pushing Concord ahead 3-0. Two singles and walk loaded the bases for the Mountain Lions in the same inning. Freshman infielder
Lacie Lewis then singled through the left side scoring freshman catcher
Lorelai Ellerby increasing the lead to four.
The Mountain Lions were able to hold off a late surge in the bottom of the seventh inning by the Falcons. Notre Dame put two runners in scoring position to start the inning. But, Koller responded by getting back-to-back outs to push CU to the brink of a win. Notre Dame was able to score a run in the rally before an out at home plate ended the game.
Four CU hitters had multi-hit games. Raines ended the contest with three RBI.
Koller (4-7) was the starter for Concord in game one getting her fifth start in 25 appearances. Koller threw her third complete game of the season while striking out three and only allowing four hits. Koller started the game by retiring 12 of the first 13 batters.
Game 2: Concord 11 – Notre Dame 2 (Five Innings)
Concord came out swinging in the first inning coming off a game one victory by putting up four early runs on the board.
Back-to-back singles by sophomore utility
Kylee Stacy and Lewis was followed by an RBI double from senior infielder
Sarah Thompson. A sacrifice fly scored another run before Raines hit an RBI single scoring the fourth and final run in the inning.
CU looked to add more in the top of the fourth when they exploded for seven. Leading off the inning was sophomore outfielder
Kayla McCraw with a double. A few batters later with two runners on, Koller singled bringing in Stacy. Freshman catcher/outfielder
Morgan Gleason continued the rally with an RBI single. Raines added to her RBI total and extended the lead with her second three-run home run of the day making it 10-0. And before the final out of the inning, freshman infielder
Morgan Cline hit her second home run of the season increasing the lead to 11-0.
The starter for the second game was junior pitcher
Nancy-Jo Roberts (11-13) who got her 26
th appearance and 25
th start of the season. Roberts started off retiring the first 12 batters she faced until giving up her first hit in the bottom of the fifth. Roberts threw five innings while striking out three batters and only allowing two hits.
Concord had three hitters with multiple hits. Raines ended the game with four of the team's nine RBI. Six of the 11 hits for CU were for extra bases.
The Mountain Lions travel to West Virginia Wesleyan 3:00 p.m. Friday for an MEC doubleheader.
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