RIVER FOREST, Ill. – MSOE softball kicked off conference play as they took on the Cougars of Concordia Chicago. The Raiders had a tremendous day at the plate, scoring double digits runs in both games on the way to a sweep.
RESULTS
MSOE RAIDERS – 19
Concordia University Chicago – 4
MSOE RAIDERS – 13
Concordia University Chicago – 10
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Game One
- The Raiders (7-5, 2-0 NACC) wasted no time getting ahead of the Cougars (4-8, 0-2 NACC) as a Jayda Nelson single scored Jenna O'Donnell to give the Raiders a 1-0 lead after one. After a Faith Matta single scored Celine Pacheco, the Raiders added two more runs after taking advantage of an error in the outfield by the Cougars. In the third, Jenna Trewyn stepped up to the dish with the bases juiced and delivered a double to the left center gap, clearing the bases as the Raiders lead grew to 9-0.
- In the fifth inning, the Raiders needed one-run to shorten the game and delivered ten-fold. Nelson batted in two more runs on a single, before a bases loaded walk to Haley Murray built the lead up to 15-0. After back-to-back RBI doubles from Matta and O'Donnell, the MSOE lead was up to 19 runs, and despite the Cougars short rally in the bottom of the inning, the Raiders held on for the 19-4 throttling.
- Game 2
- The Raiders once again brought around a run in the first inning, as Matta lead off with a single before stealing second to get into scoring position. Trewyn knocked a one-out single to right field to bring Matta around. The Raiders would add another in the second as Carley Witteveen reached on an error and advanced to second. Witteveen would advance again on a passed ball, before scoring on a Caroline Fouras sacrifice fly.
- After keeping the Cougars at bay through three innings, Concordia Chicago would bring three runs across in the fourth inning to knot the game up at 5-5. The Cougars would take their lone lead of the day, 6-5, on an RBI double in the fifth which lit a fire under the Raiders. O'Donnell and Trewyn hit back-to-back solo jacks to tie and take the lead in the sixth inning, before the Raiders padded their lead in the seventh. Jocelyn Clodi drew a bases loaded walk to give the Raiders their first of six insurance runs, most of them generated by Cougar fielding errors and mistakes. Despite giving up a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh, Katie Pollock hung on to get the win in relief as MSOE topped Concordia Chicago 13-10, sweeping the doubleheader.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
WHO'S ON DECK
The Raiders host a doubleheader against University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire on Friday, March 29
th. The games begin at 3:00PM and 5:00PM at Raiders Field.
For up-to-the-minute MSOE Raiders news, visit us at
MSOERaiders.com. You can also follow the Red & White on Twitter
@MSOE_Raiders and
@msoe_raiders on Instagram.
