ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (3-5) dropped to 2-1 in Kelly Laas Memorial Tournament action on Friday morning as they fell to Nebraska Kearney by a score of 10-4 in the Husky Dome.
 
The Lopers handed the Golden Bears a loss for the second time this season as UNK hammered out 10 runs on 12 hits while allowing just six hits and striking out 12 Golden Bears on the day.
 
Concordia continued their trend of scoring and taking the lead in the first inning, but a run in the first and four in the second for Nebraska Kearney proved to be enough to give them the lead for good.
 
Carlie Hart led things off in the first by reaching base and advancing to second on an error. Hart moved up on a bunt single from Thompson before coming around to score on a passed ball to put CSP on top.
 
Nebraska Kearney answered back in the bottom of the inning with a run of their own on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Katy Shupe before they added four more in the second on Rebecca Wyatt and Makenzi Dallas RBI singles and a Kate Ruwe two-run homer.
 
The Golden Bears cut that gap down to 5-3 in the top of the third as Thompson walked and Justine Schattner singled before Haley Schanks helped her own cause with a two-run double. Two more runners would reach base in the inning but no more runs came across the plate as UNK held onto their two run lead.
 
That would be all the closer Concordia would get as the Lopers added three on a three-run blast to center from Molly Stern in their half of the third while they added two more in the fourth to bring their total to 10.
 
Concordia did add a run in the fourth as Hart walked and eventually came around to score on a wild pitch, but that would be all for them as the game finished with a 10-4 final.
 
Thompson finished as the lone Golden Bear with a multi-hit day as she went 2-3 with a walk while Schattner, Schanks, Liz Jarosz and Lauren Bartel all added hits as well.
 
Schanks (1-4) took the loss in the circle as she worked the first 2.0+ innings before Linzy Heim came in to work the final 4.0.
 
Concordia will wrap up play in the Kelly Laas Memorial Tournament tomorrow night as they take on Emporia State at 7 p.m. and #16 Missouri Western State at 9:30 p.m.