ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (15-26, 9-9 NSIC) is set to finish off their six-game home stand as they play host to Upper Iowa (16-21, 11-5 NSIC) on Tuesday afternoon at Carlander Field. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
The Golden Bears came into last Saturday's doubleheader unbeaten in six games at Carlander Field before being swept by Northern State. The bats have really come alive at their home field as CU has hit .379 in eight games there. They have also added some power with 10 homers and 10 doubles in those eight games to deliver a .543 slugging percentage.
The freshmen duo of
Haley Schanks and
Nicole Thompson have enjoyed blistering starts to their collegiate careers at Carlander Field as Schanks has hit .552 (16-29) and Thompson has hit .480 (12-25). Schanks has been especially impressive as she has matched
Jamie Fleischhacker for the team lead with three homers at home while also driving in a team-best 15 runs. Thompson has scored nine times during that span and is tied with
Kelly McKenzie with five steals in those games.
Concordia will look to continue that success on Tuesday as they hope to improve on their 21-6 record against the Peacocks. After winning 18 of the first 21 meetings in the series, CU has split the last six meetings. The Golden Bears, however, did pick up a sweep in Fayette last season as
Liz Jarosz provided much of the offense in the sweep as she went 5-7 and launched three home runs while driving in eight on a windy afternoon.
The Peacocks head into this week coming off a strong weekend in which they took four games from U-Mary and Minot State. UIU cruised to 5-2 and 11-5 wins over the Marauders on Friday before pulling out 6-4 and 7-3 wins over the Beavers on Saturday.
Upper Iowa's offense is led by Jacqueline Flood's .431 average and team-leading 17 extra-base hits and 33 RBI. Erica Kirgan has also added a team-high seven homers and 31 RBI as well.
Concordia hits the for six games following the doubleheader before returning home for the final weekend of the regular season.
