Concordia's Ashley Suter (left) and Danielle Orvella (right) each threw a complete-game shutout Friday to lead the Cavs to a doubleheader sweep of The College of Idaho.
Suter, Orvella PItch Back-to-Back Shutouts; Lead CU in Sweep of Yotes
BOX SCORE : Game 1 I Game 2
PORTLAND—Pitchers Ashley Suter and Danielle Orvella each threw a complete-game shutout for the Concordia softball team on Friday, leading the team to a doubleheader sweep of CCC-rival The College of Idaho.
Suter pitched the first game for the Cavs, and shut out the Yotes out while a two-run home run from teammate Kate Santos gave the Cavs a 2-0 win. Orvella then took over in the second game and led the Cavs to a 5-0 win in the nightcap.
Concordia improved to 22-9 overall and 8-4 in the CCC with the shutout wins, while The College of Idaho dropped to 15-15 overall and 3-7 in the CCC.
Both teams will return to action tomorrow, March 23, when Concordia hosts Eastern Oregon while The College of Idaho faces Northwest on the road. Both doubleheaders will begin at 11 a.m.
Game 1—Concordia 2, The College of Idaho 0
Ashley Suter completed her third shutout of the season in the first game Friday, holding the Yotes without a run while only giving up six hits and a walk to lead the Cavs to a 2-0 win.
Suter has now not given up a run in 18 straight innings, and hasn’t given up an earned run in 25.1 straight innings.
In addition, Suter’s dominance Friday came opposite another one of the CCC’s best pitchers in the The College of Idaho’s Nickayla Skinner. Suter and Skinner stand 1-2 in the conference in strikeouts, while both pitchers also rank in the top five of the conference in ERA and batting average against.
Both pitchers pitched well for their respective teams on Friday, too, but Suter had the benefit of having Kate Santos on her team, who provided all the offense the Cavs would need with a home run in the bottom of the fifth. Santos’ home run scored Tobey Varney from first, who had led off the inning for the Cavs with a single.
Santos has been on her own hot streak of late as she also hit a home run to provide the only offense necessary in the Cavs’ 1-0 win in their first game against Northwest on Tuesday. In addition, Santos’ home run in the first game Friday was her third straight game with a round-tripper, and her fifth home run in the past seven games.
If not for Santos, Skinner might have had her own shutout on Friday.
Santos finished the game 2-for-3 from the plate for the Cavs with a run scored and two runs batted in. Besides her, Laura Luther went 2-for-2 from the plate, while Varney went 2-for-3.
On the flip side, Molly Mills led the Yotes from the plate, going 2-for-4 on a pair of singles.
Game 2—Concordia 5, The College of Idaho 0
The second game Friday mirrored the first for the Cavs defensively as Danielle Orvella led the team to a 5-0 shutout win, its second shutout of the day.
Orvella pitched all seven innings of the shutout for the Cavs, giving the junior her third shutout of the season. Orvella gave up eight hits and walk in earning the shutout, while she struck out six.
The biggest difference between the two games Friday came in the Cavs’ offense production early in the second game as the CU offense gave Orvella an early lead with three runs in the bottom of the first. Taylor Copher plated the first two runs of the game with a one-out double to left. Copher’s double scored Jennifer Lutton and Kate Santos on the play after Lutton and Santos singled and walked, respectively, to start the rally for the Cavs. Copher then came home herself two batters later when Cassidy Horner singled up the middle with two outs.
The Cavs added two more runs in the bottom of the third, giving Orvella a 5-0 lead she’d preserve the rest of the way. Copher started the rally this time, leading the inning off with another double to left. Copher’s second double was her 16th of the season already for the Cavs, a total that leads the CCC as well as the nation. Copher was nearly stranded, though, as The College of Idaho’s Cortni Pena got the next two Cavs’ out. Mary Lugar walked to extend the inning for the Cavs, however, while Robin Gawlista followed with a single to second that scored Copher after she had advanced to third on a passed ball. Lugar advanced to second on Gawlista’s single and then came home for the Cavs’ second run of the inning when Katie Aden followed Gawlista with a single through the right side of the infield.
The Cavs’ early runs helped settle Orvella, who put seven runners on in the first three innings. All of the Yotes’ runners in the first three innings came with two outs, though, meaning Orvella and the Cavs’ defense didn’t have much work to do to get out of the jam.
The top of the first helped set the tone for Orvella and the defense as they managed to get out of a jam after the Yotes loaded the bases with two outs in the inning. Alexis Macias, Rachael Strong and Ashley Van Horne singled back-to-back-to-back to load the bases for the Yotes, but Orvella got the Yotes’ next batter to fly out to right to end the inning.
Overall, the teams each had eight hits in the game with three players on each side tying for a game-high two hits. Lutton, Copher and Horner all had two hits for the Cavs, while Copher also added two runs and two runs batted in. In addition, Van Horne, Molly Mills and Julia Henrie all had two hits for the Yotes.
Orvella’s performance in the circle, meanwhile, gave the junior her eighth win of the season. On the flip side, Pena picked up the loss for the Yotes after pitching all six innings for her team.