RIVER FOREST, Ill. - Marian University softball (17-15, 5-7 NACC) fell to Concordia Chicago 2-0 before bouncing back for a 12-4 victory in five innings in the finale.

Pitching and defense dominated in the opener with the two squads only combining for eight total hits.  Senior Paige Rauhut (7-9) only allowed three hits to the Cougars but CUC made them count scoring a run in the first and fifth inning.  Senior Peyton Loesch had a multi-hit game going 2-for-3 as Marian was only able to record five hits.

The Sabre offense finally broke through in game two scoring 12 runs off 11 hits.  Marian scored in each of the four innings scoring one in the first, two in the second, four in the third, and five in the fifth.  Loesch continued her hot hitting with a solo home run in the top of the first, her sixth homer of the year.  An error in the second allowed Marian to go ahead 3-0.  Junior Melanie Weigel and sophomore Julia Corona then went back-to-back with home runs in the third before another error saw Marian go ahead 7-1.

Marian was then able to break the game open in the fourth opening with Corona driving in a pair of runs with a single.  Then sophomore Emalee Depa hit a long ball, her first-career homer, which was a three-run shot to put Marian ahead 12-2.  The Cougars added a pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth but Marian was able to hold onto the mercy-rule win.

Nine different hitters recoded a hit with Corona and Depa each driving in three hits as part of multi-hit games.  Depa (8-3) also earned the victory in the circle going 4.0 innings allowing just six hits with five strikeouts.

Marian returns to NACC play hosting Alverno Saturday, April 24 for a noon first pitch.