st. Joseph, mo. - the concordia softball team put out two big-hitting wins at the missouri western classic on saturday, ending both games early with eight run leads. The golden bears first marked a 9-1 downing of northwest missouri state (8-19), drilling 12 hits and allowing just one unearned run before knocking out truman state (8-13) 8-0. Both games were finished in five innings. The wins bump concordia's season record to 15-11 overall. They play two more games in st. Joseph tomorrow.

tiff rodd and katie anderson each went 3-for-3 at the plate to lead the team in the 9-1 win over northwest missouri state. The golden bears got their scoring rolling in the second inning with a rodd single followed by an rbi double from nikki scherr. Rodd attacked again in the third inning, drilling out a two-run home run that put concordia up 5-0.

more runs were to follow in each of the fourth and fifth innings, including a bunt single from katie anderson to lead off the fourth. A big swing came at the hands of sami mattson with two outs in the fifth inning. Armed with a 7-1 lead, mattson continued the golden bears aggressiveness at the plate by drilling a double to left field. The hit drove in the final two runs necessary to end the game and give concordia the 9-1 win.

working in the circle for the golden bears was stephanie schmikla, who threw a four-hit complete game for the win. Schmikla kept runners off the paths in three of her five innings of work, letting her defense tally the outs and keep northwest missouri to only two runners in scoring position. The only bearcat run that scored came in the fourth inning due to a concordia error.

rodd and mattson each marked a team high two rbi, while rodd also matched scherr for the lead with two runs scored. The golden bears had multi-run innings in three of the game's five frames. They tabbed three runs in each of the third and fifth innings.

the golden bears played an all-around strong game against truman state on saturday, with cassye mcmahon throwing a complete game shutout, the team playing errorless in the field, and out-hitting the bulldogs 11-4.

the golden bears went up 2-0 in the second inning after eight batters stepped to the plate. Four more runs came in the third inning as four hits combined with walks and a truman error. anna bjorlin knocked a double down the left field line to allow the first two runs of the inning to score. jamie lindboe was responsible for the blow that put two more runs up, drilling a two-run homer over the right center fence.

what little offensive production truman state managed to put together was dampened by the work of catcher nikki scherr, who threw out both potential base stealers in the game. The bulldogs stranded runners in scoring position in the second inning, their only real threat of the game.

mcmahon threw the complete game, allowing only four hits and striking out one batter. Bjorlin was a perfect 4-for-4 at the plate against truman state. Her three singles and a double knocked in five of the team's eight runs. Lindboe had two rbi with her single single swing, while calli brennan was 2-for-3 with a run scored.