Freshman Ashley Spadt hits a homerun in a game against Concordia University on March 20, 2012. | Ashley Jones/THE CHIMES
After back-to-back losses against NAIA No. 3 Concordia University on Tuesday, Biola softball falls to 11-17 in the season and 1-5 in Golden State Athletic Conference play. With these wins, Concordia improves to a 40-2 record in the season and to 6-0 in GSAC.
Concordia’s early lead holds despite Spadt homer
Concordia came out of the gates quickly in game one, taking a 12-0 lead after five innings. Katie Cotta started off the pitching for Concordia, allowing no hits to Biola until the bottom of the fifth inning when freshman Ashley Spadt broke up the no-hitter with a two-run home run over the left field fence.
“I am really proud of Ashley Spadt,” head coach Lorie Coleman said. “Cotta is leading the nation as a pitcher and Spadt put a stop to her shutout.”
This blow by Spadt accounted for the final runs of the game, but was not enough for Biola to take the win over Concordia.
Solid pitching not enough for Biola to overcome Concordia
Game two of Tuesday’s doubleheader began with Biola sophomore CeCe Luster on the mound. Luster played a solid game through the fifth inning, only allowing for four hits and three runs to cross the plate, with two of the runs off of solo home runs.
Biola started the scoring early on, as sophomore Natalie Parker doubled home Luster in the first inning, adding the first run to the scoreboard.
Biola trailed 3-1 going into the sixth inning, where Concordia widened the gap with three more runs. Biola was not able to respond with any runs of their own as the game went into the seventh inning. Concordia pulled out two more runs in the seventh, allowing them to take their second win of the day with the scoreboard reading 8-1.
“There were two main things we wanted to focus on going into game two,” Coleman said. “We wanted to focus on the leadoff batter getting out and getting first pitch strikes when we have two outs. CeCe did a good job at making that happen.”
Biola returns to Freedom Field with a doubleheader today against Doane College starting at 2 p.m.
