st. Paul, minn. - in just one thrilling inning, the golden bears (31-13, 19-7 nsic) put up enough runs to top #12 augustana college (40-10, 23-3 nsic) and win their last game of the 2010 regular season. Concordia hit a whopping four home runs in the single frame and took the ultimate 7-2 win. The vikings secured the nsic regular season championship with a tense 4-3 game one victory. The golden bears now look ahead to the nsic tournament next weekend. Check the nsic website (www.northernsun.org) for a complete tournament bracket sunday evening and an official concordia release on monday. game 1 box - game 2 box
game 1
the golden bears gave up an early lead in game 1 with 7th inning efforts giving the vikings the nsic title. Cu jumped ahead of the vikings in the second inning, putting up three runs and forcing an early pitching change. jamie lindboe led the inning off with a solo home run, her fourth long ball of the season. Concordia continued to tee off and drove in two more runs, senior anna bjorlin with an rbi double and katie anderson with an rbi single.
the viking offense was held at bay until the late innings. Cu starter ashley kluever gave up her first hit in the third inning and did not allow a run to cross until the sixth. In the sixth frame, the vikings rallied with four straight one-out hits, including a two-run home run, to drive kluever out of the game. They tied things up before stephanie schmikla got out of the inning. nikki scherr tabbed the final out, catching an attempted base stealer at third.
the golden bears put themselves in a good position to score in the sixth inning. Lindboe and mattson drilled back-to-back two out singles, lindboe hustling to third base and threatening to unknot the score. A groundout ended cu's chances in that frame, however.
the vikings proved to be a comeback team and used their 7th inning to score the winning run of the game. Designated player britt stewart stepped to the plate to lead off the seventh and got a fly ball high enough to pick up some help from hefty winds and sent a solo home run to left field. In a 4-3 deficit, the golden bears got two singles but was put out attempting to reach third base and never were able to re-tie the game.
schmikla took the loss in the game, giving up the go-ahead home run. Bjorlin had a three-hit performance while lindboe had another multi-hit game. The golden bears led in hits, 10-9.
game 2
concordia jumped on the offensive early in the second game as well, anna bjorlin leading her team off with a double and advancing to third on a wild pitch. abby brundidge put a great swing on the ball and sent a line drive to left field. On a close and contested play at home plate, bjorlin was called out to end the inning.
ashley kluever quickly got her team out of the top of the second inning and in the bottom, a fired up golden bear squad went out to attack.
jamie lindboe left no room for interpretation in scoring cu's first run, hitting her fifth home run of the season. In their most decisive inning of the season, golden bears bjorlin, missie feuerbach and calli brennan then followed with back-to-back-to-back home runs to make it four dingers in the frame. A walk and a hit batter was sprinkled in the mix and in a blink of an eye, the golden bears had a huge 6-0 lead.
the vikings would get two runs in the fourth, but the golden bears played exceptional defense to protect the win for kluever, who started both games of the doubleheader. Concordia's eight hits were spread out between a multitude of players. Bjorlin won the rbi game with her three-run dinger in the second. Kluever allowed just three hits in the game to pick up her 12th run of the year.
