(April 25, 2010 - Ann Arbor, Mich) - The Concordia softball team needed a big weekend to push towards the sixth and final spot for the 2010 WHAC playoffs. After a 0-4 road trip to Grand Rapids, Concordia still stands four games back of the sixth spot with only four games remaining in the regular season. The best the Cardinals could hope for is a sixth place tie with Cornerstone. Cornerstone would own the tiebreaker and earn the playoff berth as they swept the season series against the Cardinals.

Things looked promising early in game one against Cornerstone (12-31, 7-15) on Friday afternoon as the Cardinals got off to a great start scoring four runs in the top of the second inning. After a Hannah Sabol (Fr - Shelby Twp, Mich) walk and a Jeni Bollenbacher (So - Edwardsburgh, Mich) sacrifice bunt, Breannae King (So - Garden City, Mich) reached base on an infield single that would score Sabol. Freshman Grace Muller (Onsted, Mich) would reach first off a fielding error that would also move King to second. King would eventually score on an RBI single off the bat of Erica Hayworth (So - Farmington Hills, Mich). The Cardinals would then take advantage of two wild pitches to score Muller and Hayworth to give them a four run cushion.

Concordia would take a 4-1 lead into the bottom half of the seventh inning but could not close the deal as Cornerstone would score twice off a double down the right field line with two on and no outs. Bollenbacher went the distance in the loss giving up five hits on while striking out two.

The Cardinals were hoping to have a come-from-behind game of their own in the second game of the double header as they quickly found themselves down three runs after the first inning.

Down 3-0 in the fourth, the Cardinals could not take advantage of their key hits as two runners were thrown out at home. Muller started the inning off with a double to right center. Catherine Herriman (So - Adrian, Mich) would then single and advance to second on a throw to third. With runners on second and third Sabol hit to the shortstop who threw out Muller attempting to score on the play. Herriman would also be out at home in a failed double steal attempt. King would single through the infield to score Sabol and cut the lead to 3-1. Hayworth would end the inning on a ground out to third.

Concordia would score another run in the top of the sixth inning when King singled to score Herriman who had doubled to left center with two outs. The Cardinals could not come up with the key hit to tie the game and would end the inning with three left on base and eventually lose 4-2.

After a rough first game at Aquinas (27-18, 13-9) on Saturday in which the Cardinals would fall 8-0 in five innings, the second game would need extra innings to determine the winner.

Once again, Concordia found themselves down after the first inning. With the score 3-0 in favor of the home team, the combination of Herriman and Sabol would provide yet another run for the Cardinals. After a Herriman double, Sabol would single to left field and score Herriman. Sabol would be thrown out at third on the play.

Concordia would score another run in the top of the fifth when Ashley Junga (Sr - Macomb, Mich) tripled down the right field line. Junga would score on a passed ball to move the score to 4-3.

Still down a run in the top of the seventh, the Cardinal batters pieced together a combination of hits and sacrifices to score the tying run. Muller started off the inning by reaching first on an infield single. Hayworth would then sacrifice bunt to move pinch runner Courtney Seeley (Fr - Breckenridge, Mich) over to second. Seeley would advance to third on a Junga fly out to right field. Katie Gallan then singled down the left field line to score Seeley.

After solid pitching by Herriman in the next three innings to keep the score tied, Aquinas would eventually score the game winner in the bottom of the 10^th on an unearned run. In all, the Cardinals would commit five errors on the day to lead to the season sweep at the hands of the Saints.

Next up for the Cardinals are two home double headers on Friday and Saturday. Friday they will host Davenport (37-13, 14-6) at 4pm. Saturday will mark the last regular season games as Indiana Tech (31-18, 14-8) comes to town for a 1pm double header. Concordia will honor seniors Ashley Junga and Laura Kordick prior to the start of game one.