Chelsea Shriber moved to 12-4 after allowing just three hits and striking out four.
Corban Eliminates Concordia, Move to Finals Versus Oregon Tech
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. – Corban’s Erica Fitzgerald drove in five runs and Stephanie Nippert hit her 21st and 22nd homeruns of the season to lift the three-seeded Warriors to an 11-2 win over two-seed Concordia University in game 1 of the Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament today at the Softball Complex on the campus of Oregon Tech.
Corban improves to 31-12 on the season and will face top-seeded and seventh-ranked Oregon Tech in the best 2-of-3 series to claim the conference crown. The battle begins today at 3 p.m. with game 3 to begin Saturday at noon. Game 4, if needed, will begin 30 minutes after tomorrow’s first contest.
Concordia ends the 2012 season with a 24-21 mark.
Back-to-back singles in the top of the third inning, followed by a Nippert double allowed the Warriors to strike first. With runners occupying second and third, the first of two Erica Fitzgerald doubles put Corban up 3-0.
Concordia answered quickly with a pair of runs in their half of the third to make it a 3-2 game.
Same Genskey led off with a walk, and with one out Kyndell Andrews hit her 9th homerun of the season to close the Cavaliers to within a run.
It was all Corban for the remainder, as the Warriors tacked on eight unanswered runs over the final four innings to claim the 11-2 victory.
Nippert led off the fifth with her first homerun of the game, while a Fitzgerald double drove in the second run of the inning. With bases loaded in the sixth inning Fitzgerald added two more RBI on a single, while a Lounette Jackson single drove in two more. Nippert would cap the Corban scoring with her second blast, a two-run shot to right center in the seventh inning.
Chelsea Shriber moved to 12-4 in the circle after going five innings, allowing three hits and striking out four Cavaliers. Amy Greenough would allow one hit over the final two innings.
Ashley Suter (11-9) took the loss for CU after allowing eight hits and seven earned runs, while striking out six Warriors.
Fitzgerald finished with three hits and five RBI, including two doubles for the Warriors. Nippert recorded two homeruns and a double and drove in four in the win. Brittany Chestnut added a pair of hits, while Jackson added a single and two RBI.
For Concordia, Andrews drove in the Cavaliers only runs on a homerun. Mary Lugar accounted for CU’s other extra base hit, a double, while Jordyn Brown and Mary Lugar added hits three and four in the loss.