Softball splits with Wisconsin Lutheran on Senior Day

MEQUON, Wis. – For the second consecutive day the Concordia University Wisconsin Softball team used a strong pitching performance from freshman Melissa Perkins to rebound for a doubleheader split. On Sunday CUW defeated Wisconsin Lutheran College 6-1 in game two after falling 4-2 in eight innings in the opener.

Perkins (Park Forest, Ill.) picked up her 14th win of the season in the second game as she allowed just five hits and struck out four. The Falcons also pounded out 11 hits, including two apiece from sophomore Jessica Liszka (Lindenhurst, Ill.), senior Abbie Goetsch (Grayslake, Ill.) and juniors Mariah Giesseman (Sturgeon Bay, Wis.) and Alyssa Robison (Roselle, Ill.) in the second contest.

CUW scored two runs each in the third, fifth and sixth innings of game two. Senior Cara Landherr (Waukesha, Wis.) put the Falcons on the board first with a sacrifice fly, scoring Liszka and then Goetsch drove in senior Jannelle Schroder (Colgate, Wis.) with an RBI single to give CUW a 2-0 advantage.

WLC (18-16, 12-10 NAC) responded with a run in the top of the fifth when Jinny Curtis tripled in Lauren Mantz but the Falcons would go right back to work, scoring two in the fifth on two-RBI single from Robison and then two more in the sixth when Landherr delivered a two-RBI base hit.

Landherr drove in three runs as she finished the regular season with 55 RBIs, topping all players in the Northern Athletics Conference. Liszka and junior Stephanie Kramer (Fond du Lac, Wis.) scored two runs for CUW in game two.

In the opener the Falcons (25-15, 17-7 NAC) were three outs away from both a victory and a no-hitter from junior Jamie Schuh (Freedom, Wis.) as they led 2-0 heading into the top of the seventh inning. Wisconsin Lutheran had other ideas, however, as they rallied for two runs in the top of the seventh to tie the game at 2-2.

WLC would then plate two more in the top of the eighth on a two-RBI single from starting pitcher Kendra Thomas. Thomas had three of the team's four RBIs in game one and threw a complete game in the circle.

Schuh suffered the loss in the opener despite carrying a no-hit bid into the seventh inning. She finished the game throwing 7.1 innings and striking out five while allowing four hits. Perkins struck out both batters she faced in her two-thirds of an inning pitched. Landherr paced the CUW offense with two hits in the opener.

Sunday was also Senior and Parents Day at the CUW Softball Field. Landherr, Goetsch, Schroder, and Holly Zinnecker (Roscoe, Ill.) played their final home games for the Falcons, while Kramer, a junior, was also honored as she will be unable to return to the Falcons next season.

CUW will take to the field in the six-team NAC Tournament beginning Thursday at Alverno Field in Milwaukee. The Falcons are the No. 4 seed and will play No. 5 Concordia University Chicago at 2 p.m. The winner of that game will play No. 1 seed Aurora University on Friday morning.