Softball | 3.26.15
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia University softball team (6-17) heads north to begin the NSIC regular season as they take on St. Cloud State on Saturday and Minnesota Duluth on Monday in a pair of doubleheaders.
Monday's doubleheader with Minnesota Duluth was originally scheduled for Sunday but was moved to Monday due to potential inclement weather. In addition, Saturday's doubleheader against St. Cloud State has been moved inside to the Husky Dome as cold temperatures have been predicted.
With the conference season kicking off, the Golden Bears will look to turn around their luck in close games as they have played in 11 games decided by two runs or less and have won just one of them. Concordia has been snake bitten by late rallies as they have lost four games in which they have led after the fifth inning and have lost two games in which they were tied heading into the seventh.
The recipe for success for the Golden Bears so far this season has been limiting opponents run totals. In games that the Golden Bears have held their opponents to four runs or less they have gone 5-3 and in games that opponents have scored more than four they have gone 1-14.
The duo of
Nicole Thompson and
Jamie Fleischhacker has consistently been reliable at the plate so far this season for CU as both ranked highly in several categories in the NSIC through the non-conference slate. Thompson ranks 10
th in the league in hitting (.423), 12
th in hits (33), tied for third in sacrifice bunts (5), 10
th in stolen bases (11) as well as ninth in assists (48). Fleischhacker, meanwhile, ranks tied for 13
th in RBI (21) and third in walks (13) so far this season.
Concordia has historically been pretty evenly matched with their two weekend opponents as they have gone a combined 39-37 against the two schools.
Against the Huskies of St. Cloud State, the Golden Bears have collected a record of 19-13. CU has been especially dominant in the series since the last meeting of the 2007 season, going 15-4 over the last 19 meetings. Concordia had won three in a row against SCSU until a wild finish in the final game of the regular season last season resulted in an 11-10 win for St. Cloud State.
The Golden Bears have not had quite the same success against the Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs as they have gone 20-24 in 44 all-time meetings. CU has stemmed the UMD tide in the series recently as they have won three of the last five after UMD had won 16 of the previous 21 meetings in the series.
