Concordia university (44-16) defeated augustana college (31-21) 2-1 and #2 emporia state (57-5) 3-2 on sunday afternoon at turnbull field in emporia, kansas in the ncaa north central regional tournament.

the win over augustana was the final elimination round game for concordia which allowed them to face off against emporia state in the first championship game. The win over esu forced a second championship game to be played tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. Against esu.

senior starting pitcher kristen schmidt achieved yet another milestone as she surpassed 1,000 career strikeouts against emporia state. She recorded nine strikeouts in the contest which gives her 1,006. On the day, schmidt threw two more complete game wins, improving her record to 27-11. She allowed three runs (two earned) on just five hits in 14 innings in the two games, striking out 24 hitters combined in the two games. She struck out 15 batters in seven innings against augustana as she threw a two-hitter.

sophomore mallory olson came up with big hits in each game, delivering the game-winning rbi single up the middle against augustana before smashing a two-run go-ahead double to right field against emporia state. Freshman natalie mast added her second game-winning single in as many days for cu, this time against emporia state as she drove in olson on the next play to give cu a 3-1 lead.

the bears tied their school-record with their 44th win and schmidt tied her career-best with her 27th win.

concordia advances to their third consecutive ncaa north central regional title game as they look to move on to their second straight ncaa elite eight appearance in salem, va. Next weekend.