PLYMOUTH, Wis. – The weather made for an eventful Senior Day for the Lakeland University softball team and rain plus nationally ranked Concordia University Wisconsin put a damper on the afternoon as seven Muskies seniors were recognized in the final scheduled home doubleheader of the season.
Rain caused a 2 1/2-hour delay in the start of the games, and would also put a premature end to the day after Concordia won the first game 11-0 and led the second game 13-0. Play was suspended in the top of the third inning of the second game as heavy rains arrived again just before 6 p.m., and teams are now tentatively scheduled to finish the second game Tuesday at a time to be determined.
A twinbill that was originally scheduled for a noon start was first pushed back to 1 p.m., but light rain late in the morning and past noon resulted in the tarp not being pulled off the field until 12:45 p.m. Nearly 1 1/2 hours of field prep followed, with the first pitch finally coming after 2:30 p.m.
The Falcons showed why they are currently ranked 15th in the latest NFCA/NCAA Division III Top 25 Coaches Poll, improving to 30-4 overall and 18-3 in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference with the win in the first game. CUW scored five times in the second inning and then added six runs in the fifth inning to finish the game in five innings on account of the eight-run rule.
The Falcons had the Muskies' number all day, and in particular in the first game seemed to always find an open spot on soft looping hits just over the infield. That made an already difficult task even tougher against Concordia pitcher Gina Followell, one of the most dominant pitchers in Division III this season.
Followell entered with a 16-2 record, 0.43 earned run average and 213 strikeouts on the season, and she allowed three hits with ten strikeouts in five innings.
Makenna Hullinger (
Fr.-St. John, Ind.) posted the first hit for Lakeland and
Cheyenne Mathas (
Sr.-St. John, Ind.) and
Jordan August (
Fr.-St. John, Ind.) also added hits.
The game did provide an opportunity for all seven seniors to play on Senior Day, and the Muskies (17-13 overall, 12-9 NACC) honored their seven seniors between games, including Mathas,
Maddie Blankenship (
West Bend, Wis.),
Elizabeth Groonwald (
Hartford, Wis.),
Hannah Hornsby (
Brookville, Ind.),
Jacy Klaske (
Fond du Lac, Wis.),
Emyli Kreiser (
Greenfield, Wis.) and
Taylar Miller (
Random Lake, Wis.).
Concordia stayed hot in the second game and scored six times in the first inning and seven more in the second, the latter coming as rain began to fall. Lakeland had just completed its second time at bat when the rain became a heavy downpour, resulting in the contest being suspended.
The Muskies are back on the field Sunday to face another nationally ranked team as they travel to take on 16th-ranked Milwaukee School of Engineering starting at noon in Milwaukee.
