Falcons Split With No. 21 Dominican To Conclude Regular Season

MEQUON, Wis. - The Concordia Wisconsin women's softball team picked up a ranked win in its final day of regular season play, splitting a doubleheader with the No. 21 Dominican Stars. The Falcons took the first game of the day by a score of 4-3 before taking a close 3-2 loss in the second half of the competition.

Junior Jasmine Freeze (Bolingbrook, Ill.) began the day's scoring with a solo blast to left-center field in the second inning, marking her 10th home run of the 2024 season. The feat left her as just the fifth Falcon to ever reach double-digits in a campaign, while also marking the first such instance of two batters reaching the mark in a single season junior Jess Pozezinski (Lake Villa, Ill.), 15).

Dominican evened the game with a sacrifice fly in the third inning, which left a 1-1 reading on the scoreboard until the sixth frame of play. The Stars put together a late rally before a two-run double granted Dominican a 3-1 advantage in the contest.

The Falcons wasted no time countering the effort, as senior Madi Wheat (Coweta, Okla.) picked up an infield single in the team's first at-bat of the inning. Two batters later, senior Claudia Utz (Lockport, Ill.) put a ball over the center field fence to square the game at three runs each. Concordia made moves on the bases in the next three plate appearances that followed, which left junior KianaMarie Taccad (Chicago, Ill.) in scoring position. Junior Adrianna Martinez (Chicago, Ill.) then brought her across the plate with a line drive to left field, which left the Falcons with a 4-3 lead.

After entering the game in the sixth, freshman Emma Shellstrom (San Diego, Calif.) put the Stars to rest in the seventh to end the game, earning her sixth win of the season.

The victory marked Concordia's first-ranked win of the season, as well as its first at Catalyst Park since 2021.

Dominican struck first to begin the second contest of the day, as Lily Santoyo singled in a run in the opening inning. The Falcons once again managed to put together a quick response, as Utz doubled to right-center field to score Wheat and mark her 25th RBI of the season.

The Stars regained the lead in the third inning by way of a home run to right field before an RBI double in the following inning doubled the advantage. Concordia pulled halfway back to even in the bottom half of the fourth, as Wheat drew a bases-loaded walk to give the Falcons their second run of the contest.

Shellstrom tossed the entire seven innings for the Falcons, striking out four batters while lowering her season ERA to 3.79.

Concordia will look ahead to the NACC Tournament, which begins on Thursday, May 9. The Falcons will seek to win their third consecutive conference championship, having won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.