Cougars end Eagles’ winning streak
Chadron State started out with a solid performance, but faltered in the middle innings to give up the win on Friday against Colorado Christian University, and end the winning streak of five games they held previously.
The Eagles were the first to score in the second game when Amy Schartz, senior first basemen of Brady, hit a long ball to right center field and sent junior catcher of Parker Colo., Sarah Knudsen across home plate. The Cougars responded by scoring two points in one play when catcher Shelbi Long hit a double RBI sending fellow teammates Melanie Lusi and Hannah Rapoport home, and taking the lead.
In the third inning, Chadron scored its final points of the game off an RBI hit by Rebecca Wetsch, sophomore outfielder of Erie, Colo. After that, CCU took off and scored six more times in the remaining four innings to win the game eight to two.
In the second game of the day, CCU was quick to score and picked up the first point from a hit up the middle from Long. Chadron was quick to answer with two RBI’s in the second inning and a homer from Schartz in the third. However, the Cougars took off once again for three more innings and scored six points. Chadron tried to make a comeback in the seventh inning when Rebekah Anthony, freshman second basemen of Monument, Colo., and Nikki Ritzen, senior outfielder of Chadron, both scored. However, it wasn’t quite enough and CCU took another win seven to five.
“The key factors in the losses were our playing extremely timid and a lack of hits when we had runners in scoring position, We needed to play more aggressively, especially defensively,” Head Coach Rob Stack said.
Looking for redemption on Saturday, the Eagles came out ready to play, but were only able to stall the Cougars from pouncing in the second inning and taking off from there. Chadron wasn’t able to get on the boards when CCU ended the game in five innings, winning 10 to zero.
The same game was almost repeated later that day when the Eagles played the final game for the weekend. Colorado Christian dominated the score board, scoring four points in the third inning alone. Chadron scored in the fourth after Shea Graham, freshman infielder of Colorado Springs, Colo., hit a grounder out to second base, sending Katie Londo, junior third basemen of Colorado Springs, Colo., home.
The Eagles, now at 9-12 for the season, will host Adams State University in a double header. Games are at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Sunday.