Ladies Swept In Sunday DH By Concordia

Shreveport - The Centenary softball team was swept by the Concordia University Tornados in a non-conference doubleheader on Sunday afternoon by scores of 5-4 in game one and 11-4 in game two at the Centenary Softball Complex.

The Ladies (4-8) had their season-high four-game winning streak snapped after recording consecutive DH sweeps at Hendrix on Feb. 17 and on Saturday at home against Arlington Baptist University. The Tornados improved to 7-3 on the season with Sunday's sweep.

Game one recap: Concordia 5 Centenary 4 

Concordia scored a pair of runs in the top of the first and added single runs in the third and fourth to make it 4-0. The Tornados scored their final run in the top of the sixth and the Ladies scored all four of their runs in the sixth and seventh innings, but came up one run short.

Sophomore P Emma Crow (Krotz Springs, La.) started in the circle for the Ladies and suffered the loss to fall to 0-2 as she went three innings and allowed four runs, two earned, and four hits with three walks and two strikeouts. She faced 17 batters and threw 54 pitches, 29 for strikes. Sophomore P Riley Myers (Shreveport, La.) went the final four innings and allowed just one earned run and four hits with a walk and a strikeout. She faced 16 batters and threw 57 pitches (38 strikes).

Mayson Post (2-0) started for the Tornados and picked up the win as she allowed two earned runs and nine hits with a walk and three strikeouts. She faced 29 batters and threw 81 pitches (50 strikes). Emma Chavez faced two batters, hitting one and walking one, and allowed two earned runs and Krista Burg also faced two batters and recorded a strikeout.

The Tornados finished with eight hits and the Ladies had nine. The Ladies drew two walks, struck out four times, left eight on base, and committed three errors. Concordia walked four times, struck out three times, left seven on base, and did not commit an error.

Junior Emma Shepherd (Athens, La.) led the Ladies with two hits and freshman LF Janae Bland (Livingston, Texas) had a team-high two RBI. Post went 3-4 with two RBI as she had a game-high three hits and picked up the win in the circle. Zalexis Perez and Christian Everett each had two hits for Concordia and Isabella Vidal went 1-2 with a walk and a run scored. SS Emily Schmuck scored two runs and walked once with two stolen bases. Everett also stole two bases and Madeline Velasquez stole one. Concordia scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the first, Post delivered a two-out RBI single in the third, Everett had a run-scoring single in the fourth the Tornados scored their final run in the sixth as Everett stole second base and Vidal raced home.

Bland's two-out, two-RBI single got the Ladies on the board in the bottom of the sixth and the Ladies' two runs in the seventh came on an RBI single by sophomore C Jaeden Thrasher (Forney, Texas) and a fielder's choice RBI groundout by sophomore 3B Morgan Dawson (Natchitoches, La.).

Senior RF Mackenzie Cox (Alexandria, La.) finished 1-3 with a walk and a run scored, sophomore 2B Catherine Stokes (Natchitoches, La.) was 1-4, Thrasher was 1-4 with an RBI, Dawson went 1-4 with an RBI and a run scored, and Bland was 1-3 with two RBI. Senior 1B Isabelle Dominguez (Newark, Calif.) was 1-4 with a run and senior CF Mallory Stout (Trinity, Texas) finished 1-2 with a run.

Game two recap: Concordia 11 Centenary 4 

Concordia jumped ahead 1-0 in the top of the first and Centenary responded with three in the bottom of the first to take a 3-1 lead. The Ladies added another run in the second to go ahead 4-1, but the Tornados scored 10 runs in a row over the next five innings, while shutting the Ladies out to cruise to the win and clinch the DH sweep.

Concordia pounded out 13 hits while the Ladies finished with 11. The Tornados walked three times, struck out eight times, left eight on base, and did not commit an error. Centenary walked twice, struck out three times, left 10 on base, and committed two errors.

Four Ladies each had two hits – Cox, Dawson, Stokes, and sophomore 3B River Boultinghouse (Saint Gabriel, La.). Dominguez, Shepherd, and sophomore SS Brooke Sandefur (Denham Springs, La.) each had one hit. Cox stole two bases and Shepherd stole one.

Junior P Anna Scarbrock (Alexandria, La.) started and received a no-decision as she worked the first five innings and allowed four runs, three earned, on eight hits with one walk and no strikeouts. She faced 26 batters and threw 77 pitches, 54 for strikes. Sophomore P/UT Abigail Hodgson (Georgetown, Texas) faced four batters and allowed four runs, all earned, on two hits with two walks to suffer the loss and fall to 0-1. Riley Myers relieved her and pitched the final two innings and allowed three earned runs on three hits with no walks or strikeouts. She allowed a two-run home run in the seventh and faced 10 batters, throwing 31 pitches (21 strikes).

Taylor Brzozwski started and lasted just 1.2 innings as the Ladies tagged her for four runs, all earned, on seven hits. She walked one and did not record a strikeout as she faced 13 batters and threw 34 pitches, 21 for strikes. Krista Burg (2-0) relieved her and picked up the win. She went the final 5.1 innings and allowed no runs on just four hits with a walk and three strikeouts. She faced 22 batters and threw 76 pitches – 51 strikes.

Concordia DP Kylie Kirk finished 3-4 with six RBI and two runs scored as she homered off Myers and also tripled and stole a base. CF Megan Hooper had two RBI, Christian Everett was 2-4 with two runs scored, SS Emily Schmuck went 2-4, and C Molly Olivarez finished 2-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. LF Kylie Denaro went 1-3 with a walk, a stolen base, and three runs scored. 1B Kylie Woods finished 1-2 with two walks and a run scored. Mayson Post and Isabella Vidal combined for two hits and an RBI.

Kirk's sacrifice fly put the Tornados up 1-0 in the top of the first but the Ladies responded immediately in the bottom half of the inning. Cox singled and stole second and Stokes singled up the middle to move Cox to third. Dawson singled to left-center to score Cox as Stokes moved to second. Shepherd then singled to load the bases with no outs. Stout then brought Stokes home on a sac fly to give the Ladies a 2-1 lead. Shepherd stole second base and Dominguez grounded out to short to score Dawson.

Stokes had an RBI single in the second to make it 3-1 but the Ladies left the bases loaded as Burg relieved Brzozwski with two outs and got Stout to fly out. Concordia tied the game in the fifth and then a five-run sixth gave the visitors a 9-4 lead and Kirk's homer provided the final two runs of the game.

The Ladies are in the midst of their longest homestand of the season as they are home again next weekend for a three-game set against the Millsaps College Majors and then open Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference play at home against the University of Dallas on March 16-17.

See the complete Ladies' season schedule here:  https://centenary.prestosports.com/sports/sball/2023-24/schedule  

Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.

#GoCentenary #CTheOpportunity