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ST. CLOUD, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (28-14, 15-9 NSIC) ended the 2013 regular season with a sweep on the road at St. Cloud State (27-24, 12-12) with a
6-2 first game win before an
11-8 win in a second game that featured 10 combined home runs.
With the sweep, Concordia locked up the eighth seed in the NSIC Softball Tournament and will play the seventh seed, Wayne State, on Thursday, May 2 at 8:30 a.m. at the RCTC Dome in Rochester, Minn. The NSIC Tournament is a double elimination event featuring 10 teams. The winner plays the second seed, Minnesota Duluth, on Thursday at 11 a.m. If Concordia loses, they'll play the loser of the Minot State/Upper Iowa game on Friday at 8:30 a.m.
In the doubleheader,
Alicia Meiser (Circle Pines, Minn.) led the offense by hitting .714 (5-7) with three more stolen bases, also drawing two walks for a .778 on-base percentage. She now has 36 stolen bases on the year.
Missie Feuerbach (Iowa City, Iowa) went 3-6 with a double, homer, three RBI and three walks. Concordia had four doubles and four home runs in the set.
St. Cloud State belted six of its seven home runs on the day in the second game and slugged .678 in the two games. But despite the seven home runs, SCSU scored 10 total runs combined.
GAME 1: Concordia 6, SCSU 2
Concordia scored five runs despite not picking up a single hit in the seventh inning to complete a 6-2 comeback win.
St. Cloud State took the first lead with a two run home run in the third inning, but starting pitcher
Ashley Kluever (Cottage Grove, Minn.) kept the Huskies from doing further damage. She pitched out of trouble often, leaving the bases loaded in the first and fourth innings, and leaving a runner on second in the second inning.
Concordia's offense was following suit early, leaving the bases loaded in the first and runners on first and second in the third inning. In the fourth, Concordia picked up a run, but left the bases loaded and did so again in the fifth, and stranded a runner on second in the sixth inning.
In the seventh, Concordia rallied. Trailing 2-1 with just three outs left, the Golden Bears used a pair of walks and a fielder's choice to load the bases with one out.
Cassie Bertelsen (Oakdale, Minn.) tied the game by drawing an RBI walk and after a strikeout,
Teona Zepeda (Woodbury, Minn.) brought a run home when she was hit by pitch to take the 3-2 lead. Concordia added three more insurance runs for Kluever.
Kluever finished off SCSU after allowing a lead-off single by getting three straight outs. After the fourth, only two Huskies reached base in the final three innings, and no one advanced into scoring position.
Kluever improved to 17-8 with the win, striking out six while scattering six hits and three walks. Kelly Franks took the loss for SCSU, falling to 19-13. She struck out 10 over seven innings in a three-hitter. But she also walked 13 and had a hit by pitch while throwing 181 pitches.
Concordia was led by Meiser going 2-4 with two steals. Zepeda drove in two runs despite not getting a hit in three at bats, she was also hit by pitch and scored a run batting behind Meiser.
GAME 2: Concordia 11, SCSU 8
The Golden Bears hit their second most home runs in a game in program history, slugging four to pick up an 11-8 comeback win.
Concordia broke a 7-7 tie in the seventh inning with doubles by M.Feuerbach and Bertelsen and an RBI single by
Katie Feuerbach (Iowa City, Iowa).
Tessa Ewert (Hutchinson, Minn.) slugged a two-out two-run homer to give Concordia some breathing room with a four run lead.
Starting pitcher
Stephanie Kappes (Circle Pines, Minn.) allowed a leadoff homer in the bottom of the seventh, the sixth homer she'd allow in the game, but worked out of a pair of singles by getting a double play and a pop-out to end the game.
Of the six home runs against Kappes, five were solo with a three-run home run in the fourth plating three unearned runs. SCSU was not able to score any other way against her.
She improved to 11-5 with the win, allowing five earned runs on 13 hits while striking out four with no walks.
M.Feuerbach went 3-4 with her 13th double and fifth home run, driving in three runs in the process. K.Feuerbach,
Abby Foster (Waverly, Iowa) and Ewert all delivered their second home runs of the season. K.Feuerbach matched her sister with a three RBI game. Meiser went 3-3 in the second game and is now hitting .398 on the year.
Brynn Larsen (Oconto Falls, Wis.) went 2-4 to improve her average to .421.