EMPORIA, Kan. - Junior pitcher Kristen Schmidt brought her best stuff to the NCAA North Central Region Tournament, as she pitched three consecutive shutouts while the 17th-ranked Concordia-St. Paul (44-13) offense provided her with plenty of runs en route to winning the region tournament with a 4-0 win over top-seed and host no. 8 Emporia State (54-13) on Sunday afternoon.

The Golden Bears advance to the NCAA Elite Eight Tournament in Salem, Virginia where they will take on Bloomsburg on Thursday, May 19 at noon.

Schmidt also drilled the go-ahead single in the first inning, driving in Jennifer Pozzani, who led off inning with a walk to give Concordia an early 1-0 advantage.

The Golden Bears did the rest of their scoring in the second inning when yesterday's extra inning hero Kristin Linell smashed a one-out home run, her seventh of the season. Tracie Enzler followed with a walk, bringing up Pozzani, who drilled her third home run of the year, a two-run shot, to give the Golden Bears a commanding 4-0 lead with the NSIC Pitcher of the Year in the circle.

Schmidt cruised the rest of the way to improve her record to 27-6 on the season in her 17th complete game and 11th shutout. She allowed just three hits and no walks while striking out eight.

Schmidt was named the NCAA North Central Region Tournament Most Valuable Player and the three straight shutouts in the tournament lowers her season era to 0.96. She has now pitched 23 consecutive scoreless innings and has recorded 26 strikeouts during that span.

Joining Schmidt on the all-tournament team are Linell, Pozzani and Shannon Miller. Pozzani hit .400 on the weekend with a home run and a steal while Linell's only two hits in the tournament were a pair of clutch solo home runs, including the go-ahead homerun in the eighth inning in the semifinals against ESU. Miller hit a torrid .571 on the weekend, but also drew four walks to amass a .727 on-base percentage.