MARSHALL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (26-12, 13-7) dropped game one by a final score of 11-1 at Southwest Minnesota State on Thursday afternoon at Regional Event Center. They rebounded for a 9-2 game two win as head coach Bob Bartel won his 300th career game.

Bartel improves to 300-181 in his ninth season as Concordia head softball coach as the Golden Bears move into seventh place in the NSIC standings. The team is closing in clinching a top-10 spot for the conference tournament, with four regular season games to play this weekend.

The regular season concludes this weekend, with Saturday's games at St. Cloud State being moved to Monday with a time to be announced, while Sunday's games at Minnesota Duluth have been moved to Carlander Field on campus at 1 and 3 p.m.

GAME 1: SMSU 11, Concordia 1
The Mustangs hit a pair of grand slams, one in the fifth and another in the sixth inning to pull away from the Golden Bears in a six inning final.

Concordia led 1-0 after four innings, scoring a run in the third with Alicia Meiser (Circle Pines, Minn.) hitting a single, stealing second base (her 33rd) and coming home on an RBI single by Brynn Larsen (Oconto Falls, Wis.).

Concordia had its chances to pull away, leaving the bases loaded in the first and leaving runners on first and second in the fifth inning.

Senior right hander Ashley Kluever (Cottage Grove, Minn.) held a shutout through four frames, although the Mustangs put runners in scoring position in each inning including a bases loaded, one out jam in the first.

In the fifth, SMSU loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a single to set up the first grand slam.

In the sixth, they brought three runs home before the game-ending grand slam with no outs.

Kluever took the loss, falling to 16-7, striking out eight in a complete game (5.0-plus innings). She allowed 10 earned runs on 10 hits and eight walks.

Larsen and Katie Feuerbach (Iowa City, Iowa) each went 2-3 for the Golden Bears.

GAME 2: Concordia 9, SMSU 2
Concordia got off to a fast start in the second game, setting the tempo with a three run first inning with four singles, a walk and a sacrifice fly.

SMSU responded with a run in each of the first two innings before Concordia added a six run third inning to put the margin at seven runs. In the six run inning, Concordia piled on three singles along with RBI doubles by Teona Zepeda (Woodbury, Minn.) and Bekah Roth (Shoreview, Minn.) while Larsen and Missie Feuerbach (Iowa City, Iowa) each delivered their second RBI single of the young game.

Larsen went 2-3 for the second straight game, scoring twice and driving home two runs along with a stolen base. The strong doubleheader performance lifted her average to .444 on the season.

With the seven run lead, sophomore right handed starting pitcher Stephanie Kappes (Circle Pines, Minn.) settled in by recording seven straight outs from the second through the fourth innings including striking out the side in the third. She pitched around a leadoff single in the fifth by striking out two more and worked out of a first and third jam in the sixth by getting a strikeout to end the frame.

Kappes went the distance to improve to 10-4. She allowed five hits and a pair of solo home runs, striking out nine with three walks.

Concordia's offensive revival included 13 team hits led by a 3-4 performance by Meiser, also drawing a walk in five plate appearances. Zepeda went 2-5 to join Larsen and M.Feuerbach with two hit performances.