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ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia University softball team (18-32, 12-18 NSIC) travels to Sioux Falls today in preparation for the NSIC Conference Tournament. The tenth-seeded Golden Bears will take on seventh-seeded University of Mary (30-20, 15-11 NSIC) in a first round game at 10 a.m. on Thursday.
The meeting between the Golden Bears and Marauders will be their third meeting of the season as the two teams paired up for a doubleheader back on April 13th at Carlander Field.
On what was a cold and windy day, U-Mary completed the sweep as they took game one 10-1 and game two 4-2. U-Mary pitcher Cherlyn Trujillo allowed just one run on eight hits while striking out 18 in 11.1 innings of work. The reigning NSIC Newcomer of the Year picked up two wins in the doubleheader. Julissa Perales and Kristin Ormsby had big days at the plate as Perales went 4-7 with three home runs and five RBI and Ormsby went 5-8 with two homers, a double and five RBI to lead the Marauder offense on the day.
Jamie Fleischhacker andÂ
Teona Zepeda each picked up three hits on the day to pace the Golden Bears.
This past week, CU used three consecutive splits this week to grab the final spot in the NSIC Tournament. The Golden Bears opened up with a midweek split against SMSU, the team chasing them in the standings. CU eked out a 2-1 win in game one before the Mustangs responded with a 5-2 win in game two. On Friday, UMD slugged out a 12-10 win in the first game but the Golden Bears fought back in the second game for a crucial 5-4 win. In the end, Concordia needed one win to get into the tournament and they did exactly that. Concordia picked up a 5-0 shutout win in game one before the Huskies stormed back with a wild 11-10 win in 10 innings in game two.
In the playoff clinching win on Saturday against SCSU, pitcher
Stephanie Kappes came up big. Kappes was stellar in the circle for 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.
Alicia Meiser had a big week at the plate, going 11-19 (.579) with a triple, six runs scored and a perfect 7-7 on the base paths despite missing a game due to injury. Her biggest day of the week came against SCSU on Saturday as the Golden Bears locked up the final spot in the NSIC Tournament. She was only retired once at the plate as she went 6-7 with a triple and two runs scored. Meiser now ranks 10th in the NSIC in batting average at .395 and second in steals with 32.
The Marauders had a five game winning streak snapped in the final day of the regular season as Augustana swept them 9-1 and 6-0. Prior to that doubleheader, U-Mary beat UMD 9-7 in game two in the final game of the previous weekend, swept Bemidji State 17-1 and 5-0 in the midweek and swept Wayne State 13-2 and 3-2 last Friday.
Trujillo has led the Marauder pitchers with a record of 15-9 and a 2.25 ERA in 158.2 innings of work.
U-Mary's offense features two hitters hitting above .400 as Amber Gamboa enters with a .415 average, five home runs and 24 RBI while Allison Brown enters in at .400 with nine home runs and 40 RBI.
Sherman Park fields A and B will play host to the double-elimination tournament, which will consist of the top ten teams in the final NSIC standings. The tournament will begin on Thursday, May 1 and run through Saturday, May 3.
The conference tournament will decide the conference automatic qualifier to the NCAA Central Region Tournament that will be played May 8-11, 16-17 at sites to be determined.
