Concordia Improves to 8-0 after First Day of Northwest Cup
BOX SCORES - Concordia vs. British Columbia - Concordia vs. Simpson
CLACKAMAS, Ore.—The Concordia softball team continued its hot start to the 2013 season, beating British Columbia and Simpson on the first day of the Northwest Cup Friday to improve to 8-0 on the season.
The Cavs had to rally for their first win of the day, a 5-3 win over British Columbia. The Cavs trailed 3-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth, but rallied for four runs in the inning before closing things out in the top of the seventh. The second game of the day proved much easier as newcomer Danielle Orvella pitched a complete-game shutout against Simpson, leading the Cavs to a 4-0 victory.
The Cavs will continue play at the Northwest Cup tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 16, when they’ll play Pacific and Puget Sound at 1 and 3 p.m., respectively.
Game 1—Concordia 5, British Columbia 3
After getting only two hits through the first five innings, the Cavalier offense exploded for a four-run sixth inning that completely flipped their game against British Columbia, the Cavs’ first at the Northwest Cup on Friday.
Tobey Varney, making her first appearance of the season after battling back from a knee injury, led off the sixth-inning rally with a pinch-hit single. Varney was quickly substituted for at first, but her single woke up the Cavalier bats as freshman Taylor Copher immediately followed with another single. Senior Kyndell Andrews sacrificed the two runners over to second and third after that, while Laura Luther, who had hit a solo home run in the second inning for the Cavs’ only run in the game to that point, followed with a walk to load the bases with only one out.
That set the stage for newcomer Cassidy Horner, who delivered with an RBI single to left that scored Jennifer Lutton, who had come back into the game to run for Varney. Katie Aden then followed with an RBI ground out, tying the game at 3-3 and putting runners on second and third with two outs.
The pressure then fell to senior Robin Gawlista to bring the go-ahead run home and the senior delivered, doubling off the left-field wall to score Luther and Caitlyn Frasier, who had subbed in to run for Horner. Gawlista’s double gave the Cavs’ their first lead of the game at 5-3 and ended the team’s late-inning rally.
Despite giving them the lead, though, the Cavs’ rally also gave them momentum going into the top of the seventh where they needed just three outs to secure their seventh straight win to start the season. Starting pitcher Ashley Suter rode that momentum, too, getting the UBC batters to go down 1-2-3 in the inning as she closed out the victory for the team.
UBC led for much of the earlier part of the game as Suter walked the game’s opening batter, moved her over on an illegal pitch, then saw her come around when UBC’s second batter hit a ground-rule double.
Luther tied things again with her home run in the second, but UBC came right back with a run in the third. The Thunderbirds added to the lead with a run in the top of the sixth, putting them up 3-1 before the Cavs’ rally in the bottom half of the inning.
The Cavalier defense did a good job limiting the damage when UBC would score as the Cavs made UBC strand runners in scoring position in every inning the Thunderbirds got on the board. By the end of the game, the Thunderbirds had stranded five runners in scoring position, including two at third base.
Gawlista led the way offensively for the Cavs in the game, going 2-for-3 with two crucial runs batted in.
Suter, meanwhile, picked up the win after pitching the complete game, her fourth complete game in four appearances so far this season. Suter also kept up her strong strikeout rate with eight strikeouts in seven innings pitched, and even struck out five batters in a row between the first and second innings.
Leigh Della Siega, Suter’s counterpart for UBC, picked up the loss after throwing all six innings for the Thunderbirds.
Game 2—Concordia 4, Simpson 0
The Cavalier bats stayed hot in the Cavs’ second game on Friday as the team totaled 13 hits to support a shutout performance from pitcher Danielle Orvella.
Orvella gave up just three hits to Simpson in the shutout, while striking out two and only giving up three walks. After Friday, Orvella, who CU head coach Carrie Kosderka-Farrell called her No. 3 pitcher before the season, now leads the team with a 1.20 ERA, having only given up two earned runs through her first 15 innings pitched.
The offense backed up Orvella, too, loading the bases in the first before breaking through with its first run in the second. Mary Lugar started the scoring for the Cavs this time, sending her first home run of the season over the center-field fence to put the Cavs up 1-0.
The Cavs kept the offense up with another run in the third as Kate Santos and Taylor Copher led off the inning with back-to-back singles. Simpson got the next Cavalier batter out, but Laura Luther followed with a screamer down the third-base line. Simpson’s third baseman stopped the ball initially, but then booted it, allowing Santos to score on the error.
Concordia then added another unearned run in the next inning with Lugar providing much of the work once again. Lugar started the rally with a one-out single to right-center field, then moved to second off a single from Jennifer Lutton. Santos reached on a fielder’s choice after that, allowing Luger to advance to third, while Lutton was retired at second. Santos then caught Simpson off guard as she stole second during the next at bat, forcing a bad throw from the Simpson catcher that went into the outfield and allowed Lugar to score from third.
The Cavs added their final run in the top of the seventh when Luther scored on a one-out double from Katie Aden.
Orvella, meanwhile, never allowed a Simpson runner past second base in the game as she closed out her first career shutout at Concordia.
Luther led the way offensively for the Cavs, going 3-for-4 from the plate, though Lugar also went 2-for-4 with two runs scored. Besides Luther and Lugar, Lutton and Santos also had two hits in the game.
Hayley Rodriguez, Orvella’s counterpart for Simpson, pitched a complete game for her team, but wound up with the loss.