Senior pitcher kristen schmidt (cottage grove, minn.) struck out the first eight hitters she faced en route to blowing away northwest missouri state (39-14) in perfect style. Schmidt struck out 11 of the 15 batters she faced in the five inning gem with concordia pulling out an 8-0 victory on thursday afternoon at turnbull field at the trusler sports complex in emporia, kansas. With the win, the bears advance to the second round of the ncaa north central regional tournament where they will take on the top seed and host, emporia state (55-4) at 5:30 p.m.

with the win, schmidt improves to 23-10 on the season and she has now won her last six decisions. Her 11 strikeouts bump her season total up to 285, not only extending her single-season record but also bringing her within 15 of 300 for the season.

schmidt also what would be the game-winning rbi in the first inning when she hit a sacrifice fly to left field, scoring senior outfielder vanessa dufresne (left) after she singled and advanced when junior third baseman amanda yurek and senior catcher kristin linell each followed with singles.

the offense would erupt in the third, fourth and fifth innings as the bears bats came alive. In those three innings, concordia?s lineup smacked around the bearcat pitchers for three home runs and two doubles as they ended up tallying 14 hits in the ballgame.

linell (left) started the three home run attack with a two-run laser to dead center field in the third, her 11th home run of the season. Senior outfielder nikki smith (right) added another blast just a few batters later to cap a three run third inning. It was smith?s fourth home run of the season. Linell now leads the nsic in home runs on the season and tied the concordia single-season record with penny witzenberg (2000).

in the fourth, yurek (left) belted a two-run shot, her ninth of the year, to left centerfield scoring dufresne. Concordia rounded out their scoring effort with rbi singles in the fifth inning by senior second baseman kelly schwietz and freshman shortstop natalie mast.

eight of the nine starters recorded a hit and the bears had five players with multi-hit games.

the victory gives the golden bears their third consecutive 40-win season and a 10-2 all-time record in ncaa north central regional tournament games and extends their regional tournament winning streak to five games. Their current winning streak was also extended to seven games.