Laura Luther led off the sixth with the first of two home runs for the Cavs in the inning.
Homers Key CU Comeback against UBC
BOX SCORE - Concordia vs. British Columbia
CLACKAMAS, Ore.—With hits at a premium, the Concordia softball team got all it needed with two solo home runs in the bottom of the sixth to top British Columbia 2-1 on Thursday.
Laura Luther led off the inning with the first solo blast for Concordia (8-10), tying the score at 1-1. Then, after UBC (4-12-1) retired the next CU batter, Kate Santos gave the Cavs their first lead of the game, sending a pitch over the right field wall for a 2-1 lead.
In addition to giving the Cavs the lead, though, the blasts also broke what had been a no-hitter for UBC starter Leigh Della Siega. Della Siega shut down the Cavs after the blasts, too, giving Concordia its lowest hit-total of the season and marking just the second time the Cavs have been held to under seven hits.
Regardless Concordia went into the top of the seventh with the lead, three outs away from the win. CU starter Ashley Suter got the inning started off well, inducing a pop out and groundout to Mary Lugar at short. However, the game got interesting after that, as British Columbia drew three straight walks to load the bases. Suter, though, calmly struck out the final UBC batter to close out the win for the Cavs.
Earlier, British Columbia opened the scoring with a run in the top of the fourth. Suter had a no-hitter going into the fourth, while striking out five of the first 10 batters she faced in the game. All that went away, though, after UBC’s Jess Hodge led off the inning with a single back up the middle to Suter. Hodge then moved to second on a sac bunt from Molly Gosnell before coming around on a single up the middle from teammate Carlyn Shimizu.
Down 1-0 after that, Concordia couldn’t muster a rally in the fourth, but then loaded the bases with only one out in the fifth. However, Della Siega induced back-to-back shallow fly balls to the outfield for the final two outs, ending the Cavs’ threat.
Overall, UBC outhit the Cavs 5-2, while both teams drew six walks in the game. Both teams also stranded several runners, though UBC stranded five runners in scoring position.
Individually, no player totaled more than one hit in the game, though three players drew two walks. Luther’s home run gave her six so far this season, while Santos’ shot was her third.
At pitcher, both Della Siega and Suter pitched complete games with Suter totaling seven strikeouts in the contest.
Next up, Concordia will play a doubleheader scrimmage against Clackamas Community College on Saturday, March 3 at 12 p.m. After that, the Cavs will play its next counting game on Friday, March 9 against Western Oregon. The Cavs will play a doubleheader against WOU with first pitch set for 2 p.m. at Delta Park in Portland, Ore.