Sower sports roundup, March 14

By Maddy Peters, Sports Editor

If you missed Concordia University Nebraska sports this week, here is what happened.

Both the men and women’s basketball teams are gearing up for the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics championship tournament starting on March 15-16. The women will host the first two rounds while the men travel to Salina, Kan. for their games.

Both first-round games for the teams start at 6 p.m. on March 15. The women will play Benedictine College and the men will play Indiana University Northwest. The games are available for streaming with payment.

Concordia baseball has not had any games as of late, but they received some positive news with a national ranking in the first coaches’ poll of the season. In the preseason polls, Concordia merely received votes, but thanks to the likes of junior Jaiden Quinn and freshman Matt Rhoades, the team shot to the middle of the standings with a 16-5 record.

Concordia softball also received some great news recently as they swept the Great Plains Athletic Conference Week Three Players of the Week awards. Junior Megan Eurich was named pitcher of the week with her spectacular record in Tucson, Ariz. including two shutouts and a total of 36 strikeouts over four games. Junior Jennifer Katz was named player of the week with a .529 batting percentage including two triples and a home run, six RBIs and converted all 12 chances in the outfield in Tucson.

As for games, softball played a double header against the Nebraska Wesleyan University Prairie Wolves March 13 losing both. The first game went 3-2 and the second was a 7-0 shutout. The team is now 8-14 for the season and hosts their first home game of the season with a double header against Peru State College on March 16. Games are scheduled for 2 and 4 p.m.

The first game heartbreaker was an unfortunate loss for the Bulldogs. Nebraska Wesleyan took an early lead in the third scoring two with Concordia finally responding to tie the game in the sixth. In the bottom of the seventh, the Prairie Wolves found the one run they needed to end the game. Freshman Laycee Josoff and sophomore Deleesi Bartling were the scorers in that sixth with both scoring off singles. Eurich was the pitcher credited with the loss, going five hits for three runs, three strikeouts and recording three errors.

The second game of the day was rough batting for the Bulldogs with only five total hits in Nebraska Wesleyan’s shutout. Senior Taylor Glause managed to snag three of those hits for the five times she was at-bat. Josoff and senior Julia Van Wey were the other two hitters. Freshman Kaylei Denison was the pitcher credited with the loss, going seven hits for six runs, one strikeout and six errors.

The Concordia shooting team began the spring portion of their season with the Doane University Tiger Invitational that went from March 9-10. The team sent 21 members to Lincoln for the meet and placed fifth with a total of 1330 points. The team next competes at the Association of College Unions International National Championships held in San Antonio from March 19-23.

Junior Devin Harris was the top Bulldog shooter with a total of 271 shooting 97/100 in skeet, 81/100 in sporting clays and 93/100 in trap. The other top performers were senior Wayne Moore with a 266 (96 skeet, 80 sporting clays, 90 trap), senior Ames Andelt with a 265 (98 skeet, 79 sporting clays, 88 trap), sophomore Katie Welker also with a 265 (93 skeet, 80 sporting clays, 92 trap) and senior Jack Nelson with a 263 (98 skeet, 77 sporting clays, 88 trap).