Softball Slugs Way To First NACC Win

WAUWATOSA, Wis. (WLCSports.com) - Wisconsin Lutheran College avenged a 6-4 game one loss with an 11-1 five-inning win over Concordia Chicago on Monday in a Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference doubleheader at Neumann Family Field. 

The Warriors (6-12, 1-5 NACC), who were playing their first home games of the season, fell behind 6-0 to the Cougars (10-12-1, 3-4-1 NACC) after one-and-a-half innings of the opener. 

Sophomore Cara Velez (Chicago, Ill.) put WLC on the scoreboard in the second inning with a one-out single that drove home junior Ashley Corley (Plainfield, Ill.). Wisconsin Lutheran cut the deficit in half in the fifth when freshman Emily Cardenas (Lake Stevens, Wash.) scored on a junior Lexi Martin (Westfield, Ind.) single and error, and Martin scored on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Gwen Malecke (Gilberts, Ill.) the following at-bat.

The Warriors loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth, but plated just one run across on Corley's RBI single that brought home sophomore Jackey Farias (San Diego, Calif.).

Martin and Corley collected two hits each for WLC in game one. Freshman Emily Brands (Zeeland, Mich.) pitched a perfect 3.0 innings of relief.

Wisconsin Lutheran jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second of game two when sophomore Olivia Krieser (Stoughton, Wis.) singled home sophomore Makayla Huff (Galesburg, Ill.).

After CUC knotted the score at 1-1 with an unearned run in the third, the Warriors plated six runs on three hits in their half of the third. A RBI single from Corley, bases loaded walk from Huff, sacrifice fly from Velez, two-run double from Krieser, and a RBI single from freshman Kim Sengbusch (Westfield, Wis.) blew the game wide open. 

The first three WLC batters reached in the sixth and Huff cleared them the next at-bat with a three-run double for a 10-1 lead. Velez immediately followed with a RBI single brining home Huff for the 11th run of the game.

Huff went 2-for-2 with four RBI and three runs scored. Krieser added three RBI, two hits, and a run, while Velez tacked on two hits and two RBI. Sophomore Callie Terrill (Minooka, Ill.) pitched all 5.0 innings, allowing just one run on three hits for her first win in the circle this season.

Wisconsin Lutheran jumps out of conference play on Wednesday for road doubleheader against Carthage (8-11). First pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Dr. James L. Santarelli Sports Complex in Kenosha. Live coverage links will be available at WLCSports.com.