ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia University softball team (18-32, 13-17 NSIC) clinched the 10th spot in the NSIC Tournament with a split on Saturday afternoon against St. Cloud State (14-28-1, 8-17-1 NSIC) at Carlander Field. The Golden Bears won game one in a 5-0 shutout and the Huskies took game two in a wild 11-10 final in 10 innings.
Junior
Alicia Meiser was only retired once at the plate as she went 6-7 with a triple and two runs scored before leaving with an injury. In addition to bumping her season batting average to .395, she was also a perfect 5-5 on the bases to give her 32 steals on the year.
Cassie Bertelsen,
Elena Koncar and
Teona Zepeda each had three hits in the doubleheader as well for CU.
GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 5, St. Cloud State 0
Stephanie Kappes (9-19) was stellar in the circle fo the Golden Bears in game one as she held the Huskies to four hits while striking out six in the shutout. She carried a no-hitter into the sixth as Kelcie Fitch delivered a pinch-hit single to start the inning.
The Golden Bears spotted her four runs in the first inning as Meiser singled and stole second before a Zepeda double down the line brought her home. After Fleischhacker and Bertelsen walked to load the bases,
Tessa Ewert lofted a fly ball to left that popped in and out of the left fielder's glove for a bases clearing error.
CU tacked on an insurance run in the fourth as
Bekah Roth flew into an inning-ending double play, but not before Koncar crossed the plate tagging from third.
The Huskies did get three baserunners in the sixth and three in the seventh but a pair of baserunning errors held them scoreless.
Meiser was a perfect 4-4 with a triple and three steals and Zepeda was 2-4 with an RBI double in the game.
GAME TWO: St. Cloud State 11, Concordia-St. Paul 10 (10 inn.)
The second game of the day proved to be a wild ending to the regular season as the two teams combined for 21 runs, 26 hits and 20 walks in 10 innings of play.
SCSU picked up their first run of the day against Kappes in the first inning, but the Golden Bears quickly took the lead with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning.
After a leadoff single and stolen base for Meiser to start off the bottom of the first, three straight Concordia hitters walked to bring in a the first run. Bertelsen hit a sacrifice fly to left to put CU on top 2-1.
Concordia added another run in the fourth and three in the fifth to extend their lead to 6-1.
Koncar drove an RBI double to bring home the run in the fourth while
Jamie Fleischhacker delivered a two-run double and Ewert provided an RBI sacrifice bunt in the fifth.
St. Cloud State finally broke against Kappes in a big way with six runs on six hits and a pair of walks in the sixth to take a 7-6 lead. Five of the six runs came with two outs, with the go-ahead hit being a two-run single for Stephanie Roan.
That lead wouldn't last long either as Fleischhacker drew a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the inning to tie it up at 7.
Linzy Heim, who relieved Kappes to finish the sixth, performed admirably as she held the Huskies scoreless through the ninth.
Both teams had scoring chances in the seventh as SCSU loaded the bases with less than two outs and CU put runners on first and second, but neither scored.
St. Cloud State broke the tie in the 10th with an Abby Bunnell with an RBI single and Alyssa Coletto delivered a big three-run shot to make it 11-7.
Concordia wouldn't go away though as Roth doubled, Jarosz walked, Fleischhacker reached on a fielder's choice in which a throwing error allowed Roth to score. Bertelsen drove two runs home with a double and advanced to third as they tying run and only one away. But SCSU was able to coax a fly out for Ewert and strike out Koncar to end the game and close out the game.
Meiser, Roth, Bertelsen and Koncar all delivered multi-hit games for CU.
The Golden Bears will take on the seventh-seeded U-Mary in the NSIC Tournament next Thursday at 10 a.m. in Sioux Falls in an opening round game.
