The concordia softball team opened the 2008 season with a split at the husky dome classic in st. Cloud on saturday. The golden bears suffered a 7-6 loss to the university of mary in ten innings to open the season, but rebounded for a 5-3 win over northern state in game two.

game 1 - mary 7, cu 6 (10 innings)
the golden bears outhit the marauders 11-8 but failed to get the timely hit they needed as they fell 7-6 in ten innings. tiffani rodd (so., cloquet, mn) led the concorda offense with a double, a home run and two rbi.

concordia got on the board first, scoring two unearned runs in the first inning on a single by nicole tischler (sr., st. Paul, mn). She advanced to second on a passed ball. anna bjorlin (so., hermantown, mn) struck out, but reached first on an error by the catcher, with tischler moving to third. abby brundidge (so., neekoosa, wi) put the ball in play to score bjorling and tischler on an error by the mary secondbaseman.

the marauders would take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the second inning on four singles and a sacrifice against freshman stephanie schmikla (madison, wi).

the golden bears tied the game in the third inning on a double by natalie mast (jr., oakdale, mn) and a rbi single by brundidge.

mary regained the lead at 4-3 in the fourth on a solo home run.

after a scoreless fifth inning, concordia retook the lead after a leadoff walk by brundidge, rodd hit a two-run home run.

the marauders scored an unearned run to tie it up again in the bottom of the sixth.

concordia had a chance to win it in the seventh inning, with runners on second and third with only one out, bjorlin was picked off at home on a squeeze play with rodd being intentionally walked.

each team scored a run in the eighth and mary would score the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

concordia finished with six runs on 11 hits and three mary errors, while the marauders scored seven runs on eight hits and two concordia errors. Mast, bjorlin and rodd each had two hits in the game.

schmikla had a solid first outing with five strikeout and allowing four earned runs.

game 2 - cu 5, northern state 3
the golden bears capitalized on seven wolves errors and a combined one-hitter by cassye mcmahon (fr., rescue, ca) and jenny kaminski (jr., columbia heights, mn) to earn a 5-3 win.

concordia got on the board first after a single by brundidge, she stole second and would score on a northern state error in the second inning.

northern state tied it in the top of fourth inning, but the golden bears scored two runs on a single and a pair on northern state errors in the bottom of the fourth.

after the first batter lined out in the top of the fifth inning, mcmahon walked the next batter she faced, then hit the next batter to put runners on first and second with one out. Northern flew out for the second out with the runner on second advancing to third. The wolves pulled a double steal to score a run. The runner on second advanced to third on a wild pitch and then scored on a wild pitch. After another walked batter, kaminski replaced mcmahon and got the final out of the inning to preserve a 3-3 game.

mcmahon allowed three earned runs on one hit with seven strikeouts on the day. She also had eight walks, a wild pitch and a hit batsman in her first collegiate outing in 4.2 innings. Kaminski pitch 2.1 scoreless and hitless innings with one strikeout and one walk.

in concordia's half of the fifth inning, after tischler walked, she was out at second as bjorlin reached on a fielder's choice. Brundidge reached on an error by the third baseman, with bjorlin advancing to third and would score on a throwing error the catcher to give the bears a 5-3 lead.

the golden bears added one run in the bottom of the sixth inning on three hits.

concordia finished with five runs on five hits and four walks. Northern state scored three runs on one hit, nine concordia walks and one error.

the golden bears will play another pair of games tomorrow at the husky dome, facing north dakota at 2:00 and st. Cloud state at 4:00.