CU's Renee Santos finished two outs shy of a perfect game against No. 11 Concordia-Irvine on Friday.
Santos Flirts with Perfection in Concordia Win
GAME 2 RECAP
MEDFORD, Ore.—With the Cavalier offense providing eight runs of support, Concordia-Portland pitcher Renee Santos took a perfect game into the fifth inning en route to an 8-0 win against Concordia-Irvine in the team’s second game of the day at the Southern Oregon University Tournament held at US Cellular Park on Friday.
With the win, Concordia-Portland improved to 7-0 on the season while Concordia-Irvine, ranked No. 11 in the preseason NAIA poll, fell to 8-3.
After the offense picked up a pair of runs in the top of the first by way of a Tina Garcia flare to right field, Santos racked up three straight looking strikeouts to stall the Eagles in the home half of the stanza.
Neither the offense nor Santos would slow down the pace from that point on. In the second, the Cavs collected four singles and a walk to plate three players, boosting the lead to 5-0. Laura Thorp started the spree with a single to right-center and was followed by hits from Mallory Callahan, Cameron Way and Garcia. Along with Way and Garcia, Ali Paz picked up an RBI with a booming sacrifice fly to left field to safely get Thorp home from third.
With two strikeouts each in the second and third inning, Santos cruised through 4.1 innings of perfect ball. Her offense tacked on a pair of runs in the third and a solo score in the top of the fifth for the eight-run margin.
After a grounder to third for the first out, the Eagles finally got to Santos when Melanie Hansen belted a double to center. In the next at bat, Santos issued her first and only walk of the game when Samantha Perez extended the count long enough to give Concordia-Irvine runners at first and second with just the one out.
Santos, however, quickly returned to form by tallying her ninth and 10th strikeouts of the game to complete the five-inning shutout. Of the five outs that weren’t recorded as strikeouts, four were taken care of by Thorp at third and one by Garcia, who was playing at second. Just one ball left the infield for the Eagles, the double by Hansen which broke up the string of 13 consecutive outs.
The Cavaliers registered 10 hits in the game with Garcia leading the way by going 3-for-3 with three RBI on two singles and a triple to right-center in the fourth inning. Becca Gawlista and Thorp each had two hits with Thorp scoring three runs on two charged at bats.
Rachel Reekstin took the loss for CU-Irvine, going 1.2 innings and allowing five runs on four hits.
The Cavaliers conclude the SOU Tournament on Saturday by facing Azusa Pacific at 11 a.m. and Biola at 1 p.m.
GAME 2 RECAP
Two-Out Hitting Propels Cavs to 3-1 Win versus Holy Names
MEDFORD, Ore.—After falling behind in the first, Concordia scored single runs in three straight innings to defeat Holy Names 3-1 in softball action at the Southern Oregon University Tournament held at US Cellular Park on Friday.
With the win, Concordia improved to 6-0 on the season while HNU dropped to 2-10.
The Hawks grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first with leadoff hitter Taryn Thomas reaching on an error on a fly ball to left field. With the ball rolling near the fence, Thomas was able to scamper to third base on the play and scored in the next at bat with teammate Christine Gomez laying down a sacrifice bunt back to first base.
With CU pitcher Danielle Pulfrey hurling perfect frames in the second and the third, the Cavalier offense managed to square the game at 1-1 in the fourth with a bases loaded RBI single to left from Ashley Allison to drive in Cameron Way.
Concordia took its first lead in the top of the fifth when a leadoff single by Kayla Vickaryous turned into a score on a Tina Garcia hit to center field. The Cavs added an insurance run in the sixth on a sacrifice fly from Becca Gawlista, allowing Kyndell Andrews to score from third after reaching on a dropped fly ball.
The Hawks managed to put a pair of runner in scoring position in the fourth with singles from Gomez and Alexis Moctezuma, but stranded the duo at first and third when Pulfrey ended the threat with a pop up to the catcher.
HNU put runners at first and second for the winning run at the plate in the seventh, but once again, Pulfrey stymied the offense by inducing a grounder to second to end the game.
The Cavaliers outhit the Hawks 7-4 with Vickaryous leading the way with a 3-for-4 performance at the plate. Moctezuma finished with two hits in three charged at bats for the Hawks.
With just one unearned run against her, Pulfrey picked up the win by tossing the complete game.