Seventh seed Concordia swept fifth seed Morningside in the 2015 GPAC Softball Tournament Championship series on Saturday downing the Mustangs 7-3 and 6-5  in Sioux City, Iowa.

This is the first year that GPAC has utilized a new tournament format. The Bulldogs and the Mustangs each won their respective four-team tournament bracket to reach the title series. The new format had the top seed (Doane) serving as one bracket host (1,4,5,8 seeds), with the  second seed (Midland) as the other bracket host (2,3,6,7 seeds).

 

Concordia got on the board first in the opening game, scoring a pair of runs in the third inning along with a single run in the fourth. But Morningside answered in the bottom of the fourth, plating a pair of runs to make it 3-2. The Bulldogs put the game out of reach in the top of the fourth, scoring four runs.

 

In the second game each team tallied a single run in the first, but Morningside took their first lead of the game on a Anna Milone two-run homer in the second inning. Concordia used a long ball of their own to take the lead in the top of the third as Michaela Woodward belted a three-run shot, making it 4-3. The Bulldogs added runs in the fifth and seventh and survived a later rally by the Mustangs who scored two in the bottom of the seventh and had a runner in scoring position before Concordia retired the side.

 

Concordia, along with Doane, the GPAC regular-season champion, have secured berths to the NAIA Opening Round. The champions of each of the 10 Opening Round tournaments will advance to the 35th annual NAIA Softball World Series in Sioux City, Iowa from May 22 – 28.