ANGOLA, Ind. --- The No. 14-ranked Concordia University Wisconsin softball team saw a record-setting season draw to a close after dropping a pair of games to No. 5 Trine University in an NCAA Division III Softball Super Regional at SportONE/Parkview Softball Field. The Falcons (40-5) fell to the Thunder, 4-3, in Friday's opening game of the best-of-three series. Trine closed out the series sweep with a 7-2 victory on Saturday.
Game 1 (Friday) --- No. 5 Trine 4, No. 14 Concordia Wisconsin 3
The Thunder threatened early and filled the bases in the second inning. Senior
Gina Followell (Romeoville, Ill.) iced the threat with a strikeout.
The Falcons found themselves on the basepath in the fourth inning with a pair of singles from senior
Sydney Erdmann (Geneva, Ill.) and junior
Madi Wheat (Coweta, Okla.).
The Thunder struck first with a run on a sacrifice fly.
The Blue and Gold then scored three more runs in the sixth inning.
The Falcons showed no quit and started to fill the bases in the seventh inning when senior
Claudia Utz (Lockport, Ill.) and sophomore
Megan Bloyer (Oregon, Wis.) reached base.
Senior
Gabbi Gaziano (Beloit, Wis.) smashed the ball over the fence in right field to cut the deficit to one.
Followell finished with three strikeouts and sophomore
Jasmine Freeze (Bolingbrook, Ill.) recorded two outs with her two batters.
Wheat and Gaziano both had two hits on Friday.
Game 2 (Saturday) --- No. 5 Trine 7, No. 14 Concordia Wisconsin 2
The Falcons found their way onto the scoreboard with a two-run home run in the sixth inning. Sophomore
Jess Pozezinski (Lake Villa, Ill.) crushed the ball over the left-center field fence to score
Sydney Erdmann.
Senior
Nicki Becker (Brodhead, Wis.) had a strikeout in the start, while
Gina Followell closed the game.
The senior class of Becker, Erdmann, Followell, Gaziano,
Katelyn Albrecht, Abby Kerrins and
Ashley Zappa finish their storied careers with a 111-19 record.