The Concordia University softball team rallied for two come-from-behind wins in a row to sweep the Briar Cliff Chargers at Plum Creek Park in Seward, Neb on Thursday. Concordia took the first game 6-4 and game two 7-6 in nine innings.
In game one Briar Cliff gained a 1-0 lead in the third inning, but the Bulldogs took the lead back 2-1 on a two-run double by Charlotte Kaeding. The Chargers then stormed back for three runs aided by Bulldog errors in the top of the fifth inning. Trailing 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth, the two Concordia seniors Kaeding and Kendall Burgess, playing in their final home game of their careers, stepped up with a walk and a home run to tie the game 4-4. After a pair of singles by Whitney Swanson and Natalie Jeppesen, the Bulldogs retook the lead 5-4 on a single by Sally Wolff. Clarissa Eloge then drove in the Bulldogs' sixth run of the game with a single to right field, scoring Jeppesen.
Concordia starter Nicole Sempek then shut down the Chargers in the top of the seventh to earn her 15th victory of the season. Sempek is now 15-2 with a 2.40 ERA during the 2009 campaign.
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 5-0 lead in game two, but the lead quickly disappeared following physical and mental errors that allowed the Chargers back into the game. With runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, the Chargers took a 6-5 lead, looking to escape Seward with a split. Eloge singled to open the eighth inning, and Nicole Baker attempted to move her into scoring position. After a pair of bunts went foul Baker was retired swinging for the first out. The Bulldogs caught a break when Briar Cliff starter Camille Cruz walked the next two Concordia hitters, Kaeding and Burgess, to load the bases with one out. After a Laura Fugate strikeout, Swanson came to the plate with the bases loaded and two out. Swanson fouled off three full-count pitches to keep herself alive before drawing a walk that brought in Kaeding for the tying run. Briar Cliff escaped the big inning when Jeppesen, the next Concordia hitter, grounded out to Cruz.
Headed into the bottom of the ninth tied Baker led off the inning with a bunt single, but was retired when Kaeding hit a ground ball to the short stop. Kaeding beat out the double play attempt and moved to second on a single to right field by Burgess. With two on and one out, Fugate hit a soft ground ball to the second baseman who attempted to tag Burgess as she ran by. The throw to first base was late as Fugate hustled down the line, but with the commotion happening on the other side of the diamond, Kaeding came all the way around to score the winning run.
Courtney Thomas earned the win for the Bulldogs. Thomas threw 3 1-3 innings, giving up one run (unearned) on two hits.
The Bulldogs will now turn their attention to the 2009 GPAC post-season tournament April 29 through May 1 in Sioux City, Iowa.