Valley blanked at nationals

Junior Janae Borrego had two of the Lady Vikings' four hits during a 1-0 loss to No. 14 Concordia (Calif.) in the NAIA Championships. (Chris Allen/Democrat-News) [Click to enlarge] [Order this photo]

DECATUR, Ala. -- A pitcher's duel came down, as it does so often, to who bat last.

So it was that in the bottom of the seventh inning Thursday, Concordia (Calif.) scored the lone run of the game to give the Missouri Valley College softball team a 1-0 loss in the first pool contest of the NAIA Championships at Decatur, Ala.

That ended a frustrating game for the 14th-ranked Lady Eagles, who had banged out 10 hits against junior Tatum Hathcock, but hit into a double play and left 10 runners on base. The Lady Vikings had only four hits off junior Rachel Reekstin, two by junior Janae Borrego, and stranded six runners.

Valley had a chance to score in the top of the third. Junior Wendy Garcia walked and junior Edna Gutierrez' infield single put runners on first and second base with two outs, but senior Lindsey Stapp hit a comebacker to the mound to end the threat.

The Lady Vikings didn't get two runners on base in the same frame the rest of the game, and didn't advance any past second base.

A one-out error on freshman Katie Carson's grounder gave Concordia (40-20) the break it needed in the seventh. Freshman Alicia Lucatero singled to get Carson to second base, from where she scored on freshman Jennifer Simons' single.

Valley (33-22) will try again today when it takes on No. 3 Dickinson State (N.D.), which the Lady Vikings beat, 4-2, March 20 at the Tucson Invitational.