3/17/15 • By Zach Chriswell / zchriswell@columbustelegram.com
COLUMBUS -- The Raiders fell under, then jumped back to .500 by splitting a doubleheader with the Bulldogs.
The Central Community College softball team fell to the Concordia JV 6-5 in the opening game of a doubleheader, before winning the nightcap 10-5 Tuesday at Gerrard Park.
Central head coach Jack Gutierrez thought they could, or maybe even should have won both games.
"We probably should have had two, but we're trying to play a lot of girls," he said. "Sometimes when you play a JV team, that's probably the time to do that."
Concordia struck first in Game 1, plating two runs in the top of the first inning.
The Raiders responded with five runs in the second inning thanks to RBIs from McKenna Rossmeier, Jacy Bretschneider and Morgan Uldrich.
"We attacked the ball," Gutierrez said. "We were going after it and making good decisions at the plate. After that, we started popping everything up. We were just trying to crush the ball, I think, and that played into their hands."
The Raiders only recorded three more hits in the remaining five innings.
That opened the door for the Bulldogs' comeback.
Concordia added one run in the fifth inning, then three runs in the sixth inning to take control, and eventually, the win.
"We scored all our runs early, then just kind of stopped," Gutierrez said. "They came back tough on us. We had the right people at the plate, we just couldn't get a run."
Concordia's Justine Hansen earned the win, while Central freshman Brooke Behnk took the loss.
Uldrich went 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI, while Alissa Edwards went 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored.
In the second game, Central's offense wasn't limited to just one inning.
"The second game was better," Gutierrez said. "We adjusted to the pitching -- it was really slow pitching. Sometimes those kinds of pitchers can really throw you off. We got some timely hits with good baserunning, and again, we got to play everybody."
The Bulldogs scored first again, this time plating one run in the top of the first inning.
After a scoreless first for Central, the Raiders answered with a two-run second inning, a three-run third inning, one run in each the fourth and fifth innings and three more runs in the sixth inning.
Though Central stayed in control all game, it had to fight off a Concordia comeback attempt.
The Bulldogs scored two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and one in the seventh inning. In those three innings, Concordia left five runners on base.
The evenly-spread offense was one of the keys to victory, according to Gutierrez.
"You never know who is going to hit it," he said. "Some unlikely people come up and get a big hit. That was kind of key. We took advantage of some of their mistakes in the outfield, too."
Picking up the win in Game 2 was Uldrich, who didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning.
From the plate, Central was led by Bryan Denton, who went 3-for-3 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored. Jayd Roberts went 3-for-4 from the plate with a triple, three RBIs and two runs scored, while Uldrich was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored.
Central hosts Iowa Western Community College Thursday.
Tuesday at Gerrard Park
Game 1
Concordia 200 013 0 - 6 8 2
Central (5-5) 050 000 0 - 5 10 2
* Pitching: WP - Justine Hansen; LP - Brooke Behnk
* Leading Central Hitters: Janey Pasold 2-4, 2B, run; Jacy Bretschneider 1-3, 2 RBIs, run; Morgan Uldrich 2-3, 2 2Bs, RBI; Logan Zeleny 1-4; Alissa Edwards 2-3, 2B, run; Alicia Bigelow 2-3, run; McKenna Rossmeier 1-3, 2B, 2 RBIs, run.
* Leading Concordia Hitters: Bri Liebelt 3-4, 2 runs; Courtnay Serve 2-3, RBI, run, SB; MaKenna Tracy 1-4; Jen Schenaman 0-2, run; Clarissa Beving 2-3, 2B, 2 RBIs; Danielle Harstad 0-4, run; Alex Kentner 1-3; Kerrigan Anspauch 0-3, run.
Game 2
Concordia 100 021 1 -- 5 7 2
Central 023 113 X -- 10 13 3
* Pitching: WP - Uldrich; LP - Naomi Greder
* Leading Central Hitters: Pasold 1-5, 2B, RBI; Uldrich 2-3, 2B, 2 runs; Zeleny 1-4, run; Shelbi Dittmer 2-4, RBI, 2 runs; Jayd Roberts 3-4, 3B, 3 RBIs, 2 runs; Bryan Denton 3-3, 2B, 2 RBIs, 2 runs; Edwards 1-2; Bigelow 1-3, 2 RBIs.
* Leading Concordia Hitters: Liebelt 1-2, 2 runs; Serve 1-3, run; Tracy 1-4, 2 RBIs; Schenaman 1-4, RBI; Beving 1-4, 3B, run; Harstad 2-4, RBI; Greder 0-2, run