ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (15-24, 9-7 NSIC) improved to a perfect 6-0 on their home field with a sweep of MSU Moorhead (11-17, 1-13 NSIC) on Friday afternoon. The Golden Bears held on for an 8-6 win in game one before coming from behind for a 10-9 win in eight innings in game two.
 
The bats stayed red hot at Carlander Field as Concordia smashed 26 hits in the doubleheader to bring their team batting average to .412 in six games at their home field. It was an extremely balanced attack as all nine starters collected at least two hits and eight of the nine scored in the two games.
 
Nicole Thompson raised her average to .422 with a team-best five hits on the day while Jamie Fleischhacker and Haley Schanks added four hits apiece. Fleischhacker and Liz Jarosz each homered to pull even with Schanks for the team lead in homers with five as Fleischhacker drove in four and Jarosz drove in five.
 
Stephanie Kappes (9-14) picked up both wins in the circle as she started game one and came in relief in game two to throw a combined 14.0 innings and striking out four.
 
Concordia-St. Paul 8, MSU Moorhead 6
The Golden Bears and Dragons appeared to be headed for a major slugfest after the two teams combined for 13 runs in the first two and a half innings before the pitchers settled in and limited the offense the rest of the game.
 
Kappes was solid outside of a five-run third inning as she threw just 98 pitches in a complete game victory. She allowed six runs (five earned) on 10 hits while striking out one.
 
Concordia struck first as they hung four on the board in the bottom of the first. Teona Zepeda and Nicole Thompson got things going with singles before Haley Schanks brought them both home. Emily Shinn later added an RBI single with two outs before Navarae Honoroff doubled into the gap to make it 4-0.
 
After Jill Fox got one back for the Dragons with an RBI single in the top of the second, CU padded their lead with three more in the bottom of the inning.
 
It was once again Zepeda and Thompson that started the rally as they each singled with one down before moving into scoring position on a passed ball. Jamie Fleischhacker delivered a perfect squeeze bunt that drove in Zepeda before Thompson came in on a liner to second base that deflected off the second baseman's glove. Liz Jarosz tacked on the seventh run as she laced a single to right center to bring home Fleischhacker.
 
The Dragons bombarded Kappes in the third with five hits along with a walk before an out was recorded. The first out came on a sacrifice fly as the fourth run of the inning crossed the plate. Kappes limited the damage from there as she only allowed one more run to score in the inning as CU held a 7-6 lead.
 
Concordia managed to get one back in the bottom of the fourth as they benefited from an MSUM error as Fleischhacker came in after leading off the inning with a double.
 
That would be all the scoring for the game as the two pitchers mowed down the hitters quickly. The only threat for MSU Moorhead the rest of the way came in the sixth as they put two runners on with one out but were unable to capitalize as Kappes shut the door.
 
The Golden Bears received production from throughout the lineup as seven of their nine starters collected a hit in the game.
 
Concordia-St. Paul 10, MSU Moorhead 9 (8 inn.)
It was the Dragons who build a large lead early in game two but the Golden Bears would get the last laugh with some late game dramatics as they erased two different MSUM leads heading into their last half inning at the plate. Liz Jarosz tied it at six in the seventh and tied it again at nine in the eighth before Emily Shinn roped a walk-off hit to right field to give CU the 10-9 win.
 
MSU Moorhead used the long ball in their favor early on as York, Bruni, Villalobos and Nordby all went deep in the first four innings to give the Dragons a 5-0 lead.
 
Concordia finally solved MSUM pitcher Kristen Nordby in their half of the fourth as Thompson beat out an infield single to score a run before Fleischhacker hit her fifth homer of the year, a three-run shot, onto the street beyond the left field wall to cut the deficit to 5-4.
 
The Golden Bears gave one back in the fifth as the Dragons used a pair of wild pitches and two fielding errors to bring home a run and make it 6-4.
 
The score remained at 6-4 heading into the bottom of the seventh before Jarosz tied it up with a one-out, two-run blast to left center that brought home Fleischhacker and sent it to extra innings.
 
Things didn't look good for CU after the top half of the eighth as Hannah Klug delivered a clutch, two-out double that plated two before York drove in another with a single.
 
Concordia quickly loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning with one down before Schanks cut it to 9-7 with a line drive single to center. That set the stage for Jarosz's second game-tying hit in as many innings as she singled home two runs to even it up at nine. Emily Shinn was the hero from there as she hit a liner to right that got under the outstretched glove of the right fielder to score Schanks and give the Golden Bears the sweep with a 10-9 win.
 
Thompson and Fleischhacker each had three hits while Schanks, Jarosz and Kelly McKenzie each had a pair as Concordia picked up 16 hits as a team.
 
Kappes worked the final 7.0 innings of the game after Schanks allowed back-to-back homers in the second as she picked up her second win of the day.
 
The Golden Bears will look to stay unbeaten on their home field tomorrow as Northern State comes in for a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 12 p.m.