marshall, minn. - it was a rough outing for concordia pitchers today in marshall, minn. In an nsic matchup in which the offense provided 19 runs of support, the golden bears split wins with the mustangs (9-10, 2-2 nsic) and fell to 16-8 overall and 4-2 in the nsic. The final game scores were 11-12 and 8-6. The golden bears return home to carlander field for saturday and sunday doubleheaders this weekend. game 1 box - game 2 box

game 1
an 11-3 lead after four and a half innings was wasted in the first game of the day in a very bitter loss to the mustangs. A game that started with a lead-off anna bjorlin homer ended in a mess of a seventh inning. A huge fourth inning for the concordia batters saw seven runs added to the scoreboard for a 9-2 lead, but the mustangs returned the favor in the bottom of the seventh and walked off with the win.

concordia's fourth inning was a long, six-hit frame with a big three-run homer drilled out by tiff rodd. She had the final hit in the inning in which all but one player up and down the lineup reached base.

the mustangs used two home runs off of cu starter stephanie schmikla to preserve the game and give themselves a chance for a comeback, a comeback that was mounted in their last at-bats.

the bottom of the seventh inning started with a concordia 11-6 lead but went downhill fast. Three of the first five batters reached on a fielding error, a single and a walk to fill the bases with two outs. The golden bears made the situation worse with a second walk and a hit batter for the first two runs, and the mustangs then tied things up on their own with a bases-clearing double for an 11-11 score. After a pitching change and another walk, the game ended with a wild pitch that allowed the game-winning run to score.

the pitching duties were shared between three golden bears, with schmikla going the first five innings, katie feuerbach seeing the next 1.2 innings of work and cassye mcmahon throwing to the final two batters of the game.

with 14 hits and 11 runs scored in the game, concordia's offensive lines were filled with notable performances. calli brennan had a three-hit game, as did abby brundidge. Rodd had both a double and a home run for her team, showing a breakout in power that has been budding for several weeks. The cu defense failed when it was needed most, however, and allowed the seventh inning to go on just when a win was in sight.

game 2
if anything was taken from the first game, it was that no amount of runs is ever safe, and also that a team's defense has to close the door when given a chance for a win. The golden bears tacked on seven quick runs through the first two innings of the second game to go up 7-0, but saw things nearly slip out of their hands again in a final 8-6 win.

the first two times through the order brought eight hits, including a home run, two triples and a double. A third and final pitcher was brought in for the mustangs after the 7-0 start, and lauren smith had the golden bears on virtual lockdown for the next four innings, finally giving up another run in the seventh.

tiff rodd let go of her second home run of the day during the first inning and finished the game with a 3-for-3 showing, also gaining base on a walk to eventually score cu's security run in the seventh. Triples were hit by anna bjorlin and jamie lindboe, both in the second inning, and lindboe added another rbi multiple base hit with a double in the seventh.

the game got interesting in the sixth inning when the mustangs put up four runs to set the score at 7-5. All of the runs were unearned as a two-out error allowed the inning, and the scoring, to resume. Finally clearing out the frame and salvaging the lead, cu showed grit and shut down the mustangs in the bottom of the seventh. They allowed one more run to cross, but pitcher ashley kluever milked two foul fly outs and a strikeout to pick up the 8-6 win.