The concordia university softball team (17-12, 4-2 nsic) dropped a pair of close games to winona state (22-10, 6-0 nsic), 3-2 and 8-6 on friday evening at dunning field in st. Paul, minn.

in the first game, errors proved costly as senior mandy turba's two hit effort was not enough. Turba finished allowing three runs (one earned) on the two hits while walking five with two strikeouts in a complete game effort. She took the loss, falling to 7-9 on the year.

mallory olson clubbed a home run for concordia, a two run shot in the fourth inning that tied the score at two. It was her team-high fourth home run of the season. She finished 2-3 with the two-run homer.

but the warriors scored the eventual game-winning run in the sixth inning on a costly error and concordia was unable to manufacture the tying run in the seventh despite back-to-back singles to start the inning.

the bears finished with five hits, but didn't draw a single walk and the warriors played sound defense with no errors in the victory. abby brundidge added a 2-3 performance while natale mast was 1-3 and score on the m.olson homer.

in the second game, the bears scored first with a run in the second inning on a melissa bergdall rbi single, driving in m.olson from second. M.olson doubled earlier in the inning.

the warriors responded with eight consecutive runs, scoring one in the third, two in the fourth and five in the fifth to take an 8-1 lead.

once again errors were costly as cu committed three more errors and the bears allowed three unearned runs, which proved to be a factor.

trailing 8-1 heading into the bottom of the sixth, the bears rallied for five runs sparked by a bases clearing double by tiffani rodd. anna bjorlin also had an rbi double and nikki scherr had an rbi triple during the five run onslaught.

but cu stranded runners on first and second and were unable to get a rally going in the seventh as they fell short on the comeback effort.

jenny kaminski took the loss for the bears, pitching 4.1 innings allowing seven runs (five earned) on nine hits with three walks and two strikeouts. She falls to 10-4 with the loss.

turba relieved her and pitched 2.2 innings, allowing one unearned run on two hits with one walk and one strikeout.

bjorlin went 2-3 with two doubles and an rbi and m.olson was 1-2 with a double and two runs. Rodd was 1-4 with a run and three rbi for the bears.

concordia returns to action this weekend when they play five games in the concordia tournament.

winona state 3, cu 2
winona state 8, cu 6