(Tucson, AZ) - The Concordia Cardinals softball team began their spring training in Tucson, Arizona at the Tucson Invitational Games. The Cardinals started off Sunday with a pair of games against St. Francis, IL and La Sierra (CA).
GAME 1 - Concordia 3, St. Francis (IL) 2 - 8 Innings
Paige Anderson () got the start in the circle for the Card's and started off the day with three strikeouts in the top of the first. The rest of the game saw her go to battle with the Saints pitcher as neither team was able to get a base hit until the top of the fourth when the Saints pushed their first run across the board.
The second Saints run came in the top of the sixth as they pieced together a triple and a single to go out to a 2-0 lead. The Cardinals though were able to respond with their first hit of the game off the bat of Emma Thompson who doubled down the left field line. With the top of the lineup up to bat, Payton Lewis tripled to right center field to make it a one-run game. Emmi Liptow was next up and brought in the tying run on a sacrifice bunt. The Cardinals threatened as they were able to put runners on second and third but were not able to push the go-ahead run across.
Neither team was able to score in the seventh as the teams headed to extras with the international tiebreaker rule in effect. The Cougars started the inning with a sacrifice bunt to move the runner over to have a runner at third with only one out. Anderson was able to strike out the next batter and then induced a fly out to strand the runner.
The bottom of the eighth had Morgan Scott placed on second base to start off the inning with Lewis up to bat. Lewis popped up a difficult bunt to the pitcher for an out and the Cougar pitcher threw back to second to attempt the double play with no one at second the ball drifted into the outfield and Scott was able to tag up and come around and score the winning run.
Anderson (1-1) pitched the complete game where she allowed two earned runs on six hits while striking out five batters.
GAME 2 - Concordia 7, La Sierra 0
The Cardinals go the scoring started right away in the first inning as Payton Lewis and Emmi Liptow got on base by way of a walk and an error respectively. Katie Tobias would then double down the right field line to give the Cards a 2-0 lead.
Elyse Brittain started the game on the mound and after the first two runners reached base was able to induce a strikeout and a pair of fly balls to get out of the inning.
The top of the fourth saw the Cardinals put up four more runs to make it a 6-0 lead. Tobias led off the inning with a single and Maddy Grueter followed up as she reached on an error. Emma Thompson would then single down the left field line to bring in Tobias. Kaleigh McClelland brought in the next run on a sacrifice fly and the final two runs of the inning came off the bat of Payton Lewis and Emmi Liptow who singled and had an RBI groundout respectively.
The Cards were able to put up another run as they collected three straight singles to score the runs. McClelland tallied an RBI single in the inning to go up 7-0.
The Golden Eagles were able to load the bases with only one out in the sixth, Brittain would then be able to escape the inning with a strike out and a ground out. Kendall Kahl came in for the final inning and after a leadoff single was able to retire the Golden Eagles with a strikeout and a pair of ground outs.
Brittain (1-0) earned the win in the game as she pitched six innings, allowing seven hits while striking out five batters.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals will take on Embry Riddle (AZ) and Arizona Christian tomorrow at 1 and 3:30 PM EST.
