The Aurora University softball team traveled to Naperville, Illinois and North Central College to take on a top-10 ranked team in a non-conference doubleheader. AU split with North Central to wrap up the regular season.
Game One
#9 North Central 6, Aurora 4
The Spartans fell behind in the second inning as the host Cardinals took advantage of a two-out error to score six unearned runs with three walks and three hits fueling the rally.
After the second inning, Spartan pitcher
Vanessa Hartzell settled in and allowed only two other Cardinal singles while striking out three.
The AU offense came to life in the fifth inning as they loaded the bases to start the inning with a walk to
Amie Raynor and singles from
Vanessa Wegner and
Taylor Moore. With one out,
Lauren Huebner hit a bases clearing double and advanced to third on an error. She scored on a ground out from
Mandey Shrader.
With the score 6-4 and two innings left, the Spartans did threaten in the sixth inning with runners on second and third with two outs but could not push across the runs needed to tie or take the lead and fell by that 6-4 score.
Game Two
Aurora 9, #9 North Central 3
With the momentum gathered late in game one, the Spartans continued their offensive out put in game two as Shrader scored one run in the first inning. North Central did score once on AU starter
Natalie Zanella in the bottom of the first.
AU added two runs courtesy of a pair of Cardinal errors in the third inning to take a 3-1 lead but as they had done in the first, North Central kept the game close,scoring one run in the bottom half of the inning.
In the fourth inning, the Spartan bats stayed hot with
Megan Nerger, Huebner and Shrader all singling to start the inning and loaded the bases. After one out with a force out at the plate,
Larkin Langston deposited a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence for a grand slam and a 7-2 Spartan lead.
The Spartans added to their lead in the fifth inning with Huebner driving in two with a single that scored Moore and
Grace Riley who was running for Wegner.
North Central would get one more run off Zanella in the bottom of the seventh but she held on to win her 16th game of the season (16-1). Zanella scattered eight hits, striking out four and walking two in the winning effort.
With the split, AU is now 32-6 overall. Next action for the Spartan softball team comes on
Thursday, April 30, 2015 when they travel to Alverno College for the 2015 Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference Tournament. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m. in Milwaukee, Wisconsin against the winner of the earlier game between Concordia University Chicago and Concordia University Wisconsin.
