Santos, Suter Lead Cavs to Sweep of Eagles
BOX SCORES -
Game 1 I
Game 2
CLACKAMAS, Ore.—Kate Santos hit three home runs and Ashley Suter pitched 11 shutout innings to lead the Concordia softball team to a doubleheader sweep of Northwest in Cascade Collegiate Conference action Tuesday.
The Cavs had to fight off a pesky Northwest team to get each win, but came away 1-0 victors in the first game and 7-4 winners in the second.
With the wins, the Cavs improved to 20-9 overall this season and 6-4 in the CCC. Northwest, meanwhile, dropped to 2-20 overall and 0-10 in conference play.
Both teams will return to action this weekend when they host CCC doubleheaders against The College of Idaho and Eastern Oregon on back-to-back days. Concordia will open the weekend against The College of Idaho on Friday, March 22, the same day Northwest hosts Eastern Oregon. The teams will then switch opponents on Saturday, March 23.
The Eagles will start their doubleheader against Eastern Oregon on Friday at 1 p.m., while the Cavs will start their doubleheader against The College of Idaho at 2 p.m.
Game 1—Concordia 1, Northwest 0
Ashley Suter dominated from the circle for the Cavs in the first game, going perfect through 3.2 innings before finishing the game with 11 strikeouts and a complete-game shutout.
The Eagles only got three base runners on against Suter in the game, and only one of them made it past first base. In addition, Suter threw 99 pitches in the game, 77 of which went for strikes.
Still, the Cavs had trouble providing run support for Suter despite getting their leadoff batter on in all six innings they came up. The Cavs even got runners to second in five of their six innings at the plate, but still did not score until Kate Santos single-handedly broke the Cavs out of their scoring slump in the sixth.
Santos came up as the Cavs’ leadoff batter in the bottom of the sixth and promptly hit a solo home run to left, which gave the Cavs all the offense they’d need in the game.
Finally with the lead, Suter got the Eagles to go down 1-2-3 in the top of the seventh to give the Cavs the 1-0 win. The shutout win was Suter’s second individual shutout of the season and her ninth win overall.
Santos’ home run, meanwhile, put her 1-for-3 from the plate with a run scored and an RBI, while Taylor Copher also went 2-for-3 in the game for the Cavs.
On the flip side, Kelli Peckham picked up the loss despite holding the Cavs’ offense at bay while pitching all six innings for the Eagles.
Game 2—Concordia 7, Northwest 4
Having already hit the game-winning home run in the previous game, Kate Santos showed she wasn’t done in the second game, hitting two more home runs to lead the Cavs to a 7-4 win in the nightcap.
Both of Santos’ home runs tied the game, too, as she twice led the Cavs back from a deficit.
The first time came after the Eagles had scored two runs in the top of the first to take an early 2-0 lead. Santos’ home run put an abrupt end to the Eagles’ lead, however, as she hit one over the left-field fence in the bottom of the first that scored her and Katie Aden, who had previously hit a triple down the right-field line.
The Cavs kept the rally going in the first past Santos’ home run, too, as Taylor Copher followed Santos’ shot with a double and eventually came around on a pair of wild pitches.
Northwest eventually responded, however, going back up 4-3 after scoring two runs in the top of the fourth. The Cavs did well to limit the Eagles’ damage in the fourth, though, as the Eagles’ Lynzee Halcott led off the inning with a home run, while the next three batters all reached safely to load the bases with no outs in the inning.
Fortunately for the Cavs, Ashley Suter, fresh off her shutout performance in the first game, came on in relief at that point and promptly got the next three batters out. The Eagles scored on a sacrifice fly for the second out of the inning, but Suter’s strong effort in relief limited what could have been a bigger inning for the Eagles.
The Cavs would not trail for long, either, as Santos led off the bottom of the fifth for the Cavs with her third home run of the day, this one to right-center field to tie it 4-4. The rest of the Cavs responded after that, too, scoring two more runs in the inning to take a 6-4 lead into the top of the sixth. Laura Luther scored the Cavs’ second run of the fifth as she came home when Rielly Bird, pinch running for Cassidy Horner, stole second, drawing a throw from the Eagles that sailed into center, allowing Luther to score from third. Bird then scored herself for the final run of the inning when Robin Gawlista beat out a throw from second for a two-out infield single.
Now with the lead, Suter was just as unhittable as ever, getting the Eagles out in order in the sixth, before closing things out in the seventh.
The Cavs added a final run in the bottom of the sixth when Tobey Varney hit a leadoff home run well over the center-field fence.
Suter only gave up one hit in her four innings of relief against the Eagles, giving the senior her second win of the day. All told, Suter only gave up three hits in 11 innings pitched Tuesday, lowering her CCC-leading batting average against to just .179, nearly 30 points lower than any other pitcher in the conference.
Meanwhile, offensively, Santos went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, three runs batted in and a walk (the Eagles intentionally walked her in the sixth after giving up a third home run to Santos in the fifth) to lead the Cavs from the plate. Besides Santos, Gawlista also went 2-for-3 with a run batted in for the Cavs, while Luther went 2-for-4 with a run scored.