The Dordt Defender softball team swept the Concordia Bulldogs to finish the 2023 regular season and locked up a share of second place in the GPAC with the 2-1 and 13-5 wins.
GAME 1
The Defenders overcame a 1-0 lead after the top of the fourth inning to tie the game on an
Ella Koster homerun and the teams went scoreless in the fifth and sixth.
Concordia had a chance with one out in the fifth inning but the squeeze play went wrong as
Abby Kraemer tossed the ball to
Karli Olsen who got the runner caught in a rundown and the out was eventually recorded at third base. The batter tried to move to second but was cut down on a throw to second base.
Concordia again got a runner as far as third in the sixth inning but a lineout and ground out ended the threat. The score remained 1-1 going into the seventh and
Brynn Torrenga was hit by a pitch to start the inning.
Sierra Pirkey ran for Torrenga and advanced to third as Dordt eventually loaded the bases. With two outs
Aurora Tyson singled to get the run in and win the game 2-1.
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THE NUMBERS
GAME 2
Dordt overcame two deficits before pulling away with a 13-5 win. A Concordia homerun put the Bulldogs up 3-0 but Dordt answered with four runs in the second, the last three on a bases loaded double by Schemper that cleared the bases.
Concordia answered with two in the third but
Ella Koster clubbed a towering fly to left centerfield to tie the game in the third. A
Brynn Torrenga double added two runs and Schemper singled in another two runs to put Dordt up 9-5.
Emma Groen's double plated two more in the fourth and Dordt eventually got two more runs before
Abby Kraemer worked a 1-2-3 fifth to end the game with the eight-run difference rule.
THE NUMBERS
- Dordt had a 13-3 hits advantage and Dordt took advantage of three Concordia errors.
- Lauren Steenstra was 3-3 with two runs scored.
- Chandler Schemper was 2-4 with five runs batted in with a double and single.
- Ella Koster was 2-3 with two runs scored and had a homerun and a single.
- Emma Groen was 2-3 with two runs scored and had a double and single and she knocked in two runs.
- Alexa Kopaska earned her sixth win of the season and walked two with four earned runs allowed and she scattered three hits.
- Dordt won a program record 35 games this season and is 35-11 overall and finished tied for second in the GPAC with a 16-6 record.
NEXT
Dordt will face Briar Cliff on Wednesday, May 3 in Orange City in a double-elimination, four-team bracket on Wednesday and Thursday. Â Mount Marty and Northwestern are the other two teams in the bracket with the champion of the bracket advancing to a best of three series on Saturday, May 6.
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