Concordia-St. Paul (21-12, 5-1 NSIC) earned a split with Northern Sun rival Winona State (20-9, 7-1 NSIC), defeating them 11-3 in game two after dropping the first game 3-1 on Thursday evening at Dunning Field. Elizabeth Plante and Amanda Yurek each drove in four runs in game two to spark the Bears, who rallied for all 11 runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Junior Kristen Schmidt had a pair of streaks snapped in game one. She went 0-3 at the plate, ending a nine-game hitting streak, and took the loss in the circle, her first loss in her last five decisions.
Schmidt was cruising, as the Bears took an early 1-0 lead off an Elizabeth Plante RBI single in the first inning, driving in Jennifer Pozzani. Schmidt held the lead after three innings.
Sarah Carlson led off the top of the fourth with a towering home run to left field to tie the score. The Warriors rallied with a single and a walk to put two runners on. Schmidt sandwiched a pair of strikeouts in the rally but was unable to punch out Samantha Jerding, who popped a double to center field, driving in both runners to put Winona State ahead for good, 3-1.
The Bears stranded three runners in the remaining three innings, including two in scoring position, as they were unable to mount a comeback.
Amanda Yurek and Nikki Smith each went 2-3 at the plate for Concordia, and Pozzani swiped her seventh stolen base on the season in seven attempts.
Following the loss, Schmidt falls to 12-5 on the season. She ended up with six strikeouts on the game, fanning a pair of batters in the first, fourth, and sixth innings. She logged yet another complete game, giving up six hits and one walk.
Jenny Stannis, who earned a complete-game victory in game one, got the call once again in game two for the Warriors. She picked up right where she left off, silencing the Bears' bats for the first four innings as Winona State held a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning.
But things got going in the bottom of the fifth as Nikki Smith started a rally with a one-out base hit to center. Kristin Linell followed with a RBI double to right-center field, driving in pinch runner Jenny Bartz. Tracie Enzler came up and singled to shallow right field to give the Bears runners on the corners with one down, trailing by two. That would be all for Stannis, who left the game with a lead.
The new pitcher, Elissa Wiesniewski, was unable to hold the tie for Stannis as she gave up a RBI single to Pozzani and then walked Vanessa Dufresne, loading the bases for Elizabeth Plante, who was 0-2 with a pair of strikeouts in her first two at-bats against Stannis.
But Plante jumped all over Wiesniewski, smoking a ground rule double to deep right-center f eld, driving in Pozzani and Enzler, giving Concordia a 4-1 lead.
Yurek followed with a suicide squeeze, scoring Dufresne, and Schmidt knocked in Plante with a single to the hole at the shortstop.
The Warriors got a pair of runs back in the top of the sixth inning as Carlson hit a two-run homerun deep to centerfield, cutting the score to 6-3. It was Carlson's second homer of the day and ninth of the season.
In the bottom of the sixth, Plante stepped up to the plate once again with the bases loaded, this time with two outs, and she singled up the middle, scoring Linell and Pozzani. Yurek followed and sent a three-run blast deep into the night, putting Concordia ahead by eight runs, ending the ballgame with two outs by a final score of 11-3.
Plante finished the game 2-4 with a double, two runs, and four RBIs, while Yurek ended up 1-3 with a homerun and four RBIs.
With the win, Allison Paitich evens out her record at 7-7, pitching a complete game (six innings) while allowing three runs (two earned) and just four hits with no walks.
The Bears, ranked third in the region, return to action this weekend as they play host to the Concordia Tournament at Dunning Field. Concordia will play three games on Saturday, beginning at 10:30 against South Dakota State, followed by a 2:00 game against MSU Moorhead and a 3:30 tilt with North Dakota.
