Concordia defeated the regular season champion, sw minnesota state, 1-0 on saturday afternoon to capture the 2006 nsic tournament championship, their third consecutive title and fourth in school history. Senior pitcher kristen schmidt carried the bears on her back as she hurled a near perfect nine inning shutout, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out a school record 22 batters. She now has 274 strikeouts on the season, breaking her own school record.

in the top of the ninth, senior catcher kristin linell smoked a leadoff double down the left field line. Sophomore nicole tischler came in to pinch run, advanced to third on schmidt's sacrifice bunt and came in to score when she got caught in a run down after a passed ball and the smsu catcher's throw sailed wide of the third baseman.

the golden bears swept through the tournament, defeating bemidji state 8-0 and winona state 3-2 on friday before defeating msu moorhead 5-2 and sw minnesota state 1-0 on saturday to win the title.

they have earned the nsic automatic bid to the ncaa tournament at a campus site which will be announced on sunday evening, may 7.

2006 nsic softball all-tournament team
p - kristen schmidt, concordia-st. Paul
p - amanda johnson, sw minnesota state
c - kristin linell, concordia-st. Paul
1b - mallory olson, concordia-st. Paul
2b - bre parks, wayne state
3b - kate peterson, sw minnesota state
ss - amanda opatz, sw minnesota state
of - amber johnson, wayne state
of - jenna drey, northern state
of - holly kitchen, msu moorhead
dp - terra halron, winona state