A McGood St. Patrick's Day Sweep

ST. PAUL, Minn. (3/17/16)—Concordia scored seven runs in each game and swept Finlandia (Mich.) and Bethany Lutheran on St. Patrick's Day on the second day of the Cobber Round Robin held at the West St. Paul Dome.

The Cobbers used a seven-run fifth inning to better Finlandia 7-5 in the first game and then scored in five of the seven innings against Bethany Lutheran and beat the Vikings 7-4 in game 2.

The two wins gives CC a perfect 4-0 record at the Cobber Round Robin and pushes their overall record to 9-5 on the season. Finlandia is now 2-16 while Bethany Lutheran falls to 2-11.

A day after pounding out 24 hits in the first day of the round robin, Concordia's offense put up 19 hits and scored 14 runs.

The first game against Finlandia was won in the fifth inning when Concordia plated seven runs on seven hits. The two biggest hits of the inning came off the bats of Mackenzie McCloud and Kali Covert who both had two RBI hits.

McCloud doubled home a pair of runs with the bases loaded to give the Cobbers a 2-1 lead and then Covert singled home McCloud and Nicole Johannes who had singled before McCloud's double.

The Cobbers led 7-1 after five innings but then Finlandia added two-run innings in the sixth and seventh innings to bring the final tally to 7-5.

Covert entered the circle in the fifth inning and left the bases loaded worked out of bases loaded situations in both the sixth and seventh frames to earn her second win of the season.

Abigail Haraldson was CC's starting pitcher and continued her season-long streak of solid innings. She worked the first 4.0 frames, struck out six, didn't allow a run and only gave up two hits.   

Concordia had 11 hits in the first game and was led by McCloud who went 3-for-4, drove in two runs and scored a run. All three of MCloud's hits in the game were doubles.

The top 7 hitters in the Cobber batting order all had at least one hit in the opener. Devonie Smith was the only other CC player with more than one hit. She was 2-for-3 and scored a run from the No.2 spot in the order.

The second game found the Cobbers in unfamiliar territory for the two days. Concordia trailed by three runs after Bethany Lutheran scored a trio of runs in the first inning. The Cobbers started their rally in the top of the second and then scored runs in five of the final six innings. CC put up single runs in the second, third and fourth and then won the game with two runs in the fifth and seventh innings.

The game-winning hit came from freshman Cora Zackrison who had a clutch two-out single in the fifth frame that scored Kayla Nack and Sadie Ness.

Madison Little put the game on ice with a two-run, two-out single in the top of the seventh.

Concordia had eight hits against the Vikings and four of those came with two outs in an inning. The Cobbers were 4-for-12 in the game with two outs.

Little was the only CC player with more than one hit in the second game. She went 2-for-5 from the leadoff spot and had two RBI.

Freshman Mariah Prokott pitched the first five innings and allowed three earned runs to earn her first collegiate victory. Haraldson pitched a pair of scoreless frames in the sixth and seventh to record her second save of the year. Haraldson struck out five of the nine batters she faced.

THE YEAR OF THE HARALDSON
While the Chinese calendar might say that 2016 is the Year of the Monkey, the Cobber softball team knows that so far it has been the Year of the Haraldson. Junior pitcher Abigail Haraldson appeared in all four games at the West St. Paul Dome and didn't allow a single run in 13 innings of work. She conceded only three hits and struck out 26.

Last year Haraldson had a 3.44 ERA and batters were hitting .290. She also struck out 98 in 116.0 innings pitched. This year she has a 3.80 ERA but batters are only hitting .199. She has already struck out 77 hitters in only 59.0 innings pitched.

GOING BACK TO KALI
Freshman Kali Covert led the Cobbers in hitting over the past two days. She hit .583 in the four games. She was 7-for-12 and drove in seven runs. The success at the plate was a surprise from Florida where she only recorded four at bats and had one hit. Covert is now hitting .500 for the season and has hit safely in the five games she has appeared at the plate.

MACK ATTACK
Concordia's two Mackenzies – McCloud and Jensen – are both hitting over .340 for the season. Both players had solid games in the Dome. McCloud hit .455 over the two days while Jensen was at a .286 clip. This year the two have combined for 23 hits and 13 RBI. Last year the Mack Attack had a combined 29 hits in 35 games and had only six RBI.

WHAT'S NEXT
Concordia will a 12-day break before returning to outdoor softball. The Cobbers will head south to St. Bonifacius to take on Crown in a doubleheader on Tuesday, Mar. 29 starting at 3 p.m. The Storm is 3-1 on the year and is about to embark on a nine-game trip to Arizona.