May 23, 2006

SENKBEIL TIES NAIA RECORD FOR HOMERUNS IN CONCORDIA LOSS TO SIMON FRASER

Decatur, Ala. - At the NAIA Softball National Championship at Wilson Morgan Park in Decatur, Alabama, Shortstop Caitlyn Senkbeil of Concordia University (Calif.) tied the NAIA record for homeruns in a season with 21.  The previous record was held by Melissa Dowlen from Athens State University (Ala.) in 1994.  Concordia (45-19) could not overcome the offense of defending champion Simon Fraser University (B.C.) (33-5) and fell by a score of 2-7.

Simon Fraser took advantage of placing runs on the board early to capture a seven run lead by the end of the second inning.  In the bottom of the first inning, Melanie Matthews led off the inning with a homerun to deep right center field.  Erin Gee followed with an infield single and advanced on a ground out.  After a base on balls was issued to Becca Hartley, Terra Davenport hit a homerun to deep center to earn three RBI.

In the bottom of the second inning, the Clan of Simon Fraser tacked on three more runs when Matthews hit a one-out single to left field.  Gee followed Matthews with another single and both runners scored when Hartley hit a double to shallow left field.  Hartley later scored herself for her second run of the day.

Concordia's threat at Simon Fraser's lead came in the top of the third inning when they placed two runs on the scoreboard.  Anderson hit a one-out single to become the first base runner of the inning for Eagles.  Anderson was followed by a home run by Senkbeil to set the new NAIA record and give Concordia two runs in the inning.

Simon Fraser's Jennifer Schreyer improved her season record to 17-1 while pitching seven complete innings of play with five strikeouts.  Natalie Brown suffered the loss for Concordia to drop her season record to 24-10.  Four players for the Clan added two hits each in the game: Matthews, Gee, Davenport, and Carolyn Bell.  For Concordia the only player with multiple hits was Senkbeil who was 2-for-3 with one run scored and two RBI.

Simon Fraser advances in the loser's bracket to play the winner of Trevecca Nazarene University (Tenn.) (47-14)/California Baptist University (54-6) at 5:30 p.m. today in the last game of the day.  Concordia concludes their season and a run at the title.