Softball loses home doubleheader to Briar Cliff

Photo description: CUNE’s Jessie Bestenlehner winds up to throw a pitch
Photo credit: Madeline Peters
Madeline Peters
Sower Staff

The Concordia softball team narrowly lost a doubleheader 1-0 and 6-5 against the Briar Cliff University Chargers Friday afternoon.

It was a cold, blustery day for the Bulldogs at home on Friday. The first game, originally scheduled to start at 5 p.m., started at 2 p.m. instead to avoid the cooler temperatures forecasted for the day. Despite the cool, Concordia’s fire kept Briar Cliff from scoring anything for the vast majority of the game. The one run for Briar Cliff was scored in the eighth inning when a runner on third ran home as the team tagged out a different runner for the third out.

Sophomore Megan Eurich was the sole pitcher for the game, going the whole eight innings. She had one run with five hits and five strikeouts. Fellow sophomore Hanna Bowers managed to get two hits off of Briar Cliff and comprised half of the hits for the team in the first game.

Junior Taylor Glause and sophomores Aubrey Bruning and Delanie Voshell each scored a run with senior Caitlyn McGarvie scoring two for the Bulldogs. However, the team had seven errors in the game, allowing the Chargers to rack up runs as the game went on.

Freshman Jessie Bestenlehner and junior Brooke Townsend were the pitchers in the second game. Bestenlehner pitched six innings and had five runs with six hits and five strikeouts. Townsend pitched for one inning and had one run with one hit and zero strikeouts.

Head coach Brock Culler was impressed with the energy the team brought to the pitch against the Chargers, saying, “Our pitchers did a great job today. They threw the ball well enough to win both games. And I was really impressed with the way they threw the ball… It was good to see offense going. I think we played well enough offensively to win both games.”

However, he was frustrated with the amount of mistakes that were on the field, saying, “Defensively we had seven errors in this last game and one in the first, so that’s eight errors in two games; [it’s] tough to win when you’re giving teams extra outs like that. Our defense has got to get better, hands down. No question.”

Concordia’s fire was neither dampened by the frigid conditions nor the tenacity of Briar Cliff. Culler commented, “I know that we’re not doing as well as we really wanted this year, and it kinda stinks when you’re losing games, but their morale is high. They’re still wanting to compete, still wanting to come out here and play.”

The softball team is now 13-26 overall and 2-14 in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. The team plays in another doubleheader against Mount Marty University on Saturday, April 22 in their final scheduled home game of the season.