Freshman center fielder natalie mast delivered the biggest hit of her career as she singled home the game winning run in the eighth inning to propel concordia university (42-16) to a 1-0 victory over nebraska-omaha (47-13) on saturday evening at turnbull field in emporia, kansas in the ncaa north central regional tournament.

senior pitcher kristen schmidt carried a perfect game into the seventh inning but it was snapped with one out on a bloop single to center field. Schmidt finished off the mavericks with a one-hit shutout, striking out 14 without issuing a walk as she improves to 25-12 on the season. With the 14 strikeouts, schmidt is now just 18 strikeouts shy of 1,000 for her career and is up to 323 on the season.

in the top of the eighth inning, senior second baseman kelly schwietz reached safely on an error by the pitcher to lead off and alertly jolted to second base to get into scoring position when the ball skidded past first base.

schwietz advanced to third when sophomore first baseman mallory olson lined a single through the right side into right field, giving cu runners on first and third with no outs.

then mast stepped up to the plate and sent a single over the infield that dropped just in front of the uno center fielder. Schwietz, who had to wait for the ball to safely land, sprinted home and beat throw from center as she collided with the catcher in a dramatic play that secured the victory for the golden bears.

concordia was held to just five hits in the game and did not walk as the pitchers dueled back and forth from start to finish. Schmidt?s powerful arm was too much for the mavericks to overcome as they only had one base runner in the extra inning bout.

concordia advances to the final round of the elimination bracket where they will take on augustana college, the winner of the north central conference tournament. Game time is set for 1 p.m. At turnbull field at the trusler sports complex in emporia, kansas.