sioux falls, s.d. - power continues to run through the bat of concordia university's sami mattson, whose seventh inning home run gave the golden bears a 2-1 win over winona state (37-12) on saturday morning. The game was suspended due to inclement weather on friday evening, tied up at 1-1 in the fifth. Pitcher ashley kluever returned saturday morning and faced just 10 wsu batters before the golden bears (33-14) took the win. The team is 2-1 at the nsic tournament and plays minnesota duluth in a 11:00 am game. Visit www.goaugie.com for all tournament information. box score

with a knotted 1-1 score and cold, rainy conditions postponing the remainder of the game with the warriors, the golden bears returned to sherman park on saturday morning ready to take care of business and stay alive in the tournament. Mattson walked to lead off the fifth inning and made it as far as third base before the golden bears were sent out of the inning, but a ninth inning at-bat gave mattson another chance to set her team ahead of winona state. Mattson drilled a home run down the left field line and was greeted at home plate by her teammates, who were just given breathing room for a win.

kluever gave up a hit to winona state in the bottom of the fifth inning, but the nation's best double play team worked their magic again to erase the baserunner with a 5-4-3 scoring play to get out of the frame. Kluever would hand over another hit in the bottom of the seventh, but the runner got no further than first base as kluever struck out two and drew a ground ball out to set the warriors down and eliminate them from the tournament. The warriors came into the tournament as the #3 seed.

mattson has homered twice in the nsic tournament to match cu's current season high for long balls with nine on the year. She finished 1-for-1 at the plate against the warriors, also laying down a sacrifice bunt that helped score the team's first run of the day, and taking a walk. The golden bears had six hits from six different players. The win was a big momentum boost for cu, handing a loss to wsu starter courtney strang, who pitched a perfect game in her last meeting against the golden bears.

due up for the golden bears is a morning meeting with minnesota duluth, the #6 seed in the tournament.