ST. CLOUD, Minn. – The Concordia Golden Bears softball team (4-8) dropped a pair of non-conference games as they fell to Minot State 5-3 and Bemidji State 3-1 on Saturday morning at the Husky Dome.
 
Minot State 5, Concordia-St. Paul 3
A late rally doomed the Golden Bears in the first game of the weekend as the Beavers hung three runs on the board in the top of the seventh to claim a 5-3 win over CSP.
 
Concordia starter Linzy Heim (3-2) kept Minot State off-balance for much of the game as she allowed just two hits through the first six innings of work, but ended up taking the loss as she allowed four earned runs on five hits and struck out three in the game.
 
Jenn Spencer, the Minot State starter, picked up the win as she allowed three runs on four hits in six innings before Alyssa Cornejo came on in the seventh to collect the save.
 
The Beavers opened the scoring in the first as three straight one-out walks loaded the bases before an error in the infield allowed the first run to cross the plate. Heim stepped up, however, and limited the damage to one run as the Golden Bears came to bat.
 
The score remained 1-0 until the bottom half of the third as Kelly McKenzie drew a walk before coming around to score on a single through the left side off the bat of Nicole Thompson. Thompson later stole second, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly as the Golden Bears took a 2-1 lead after three.
 
CSP added to the lead an inning later as Lizzy Swenson stepped up to the plate with two out and deposited the first pitch she saw over the wall in right field to make it 3-1.
 
Minot State got that run back a half inning later as a walk and a double put a pair of runners in scoring position before a SAC fly cut the lead to 3-2. Heim once again worked out of trouble as she stranded a runner at third to keep Concordia on top.
 
That lead held until the seventh as the Golden Bears looked to close out the win. After a one out single and a walk, Heim coaxed a fly out to left to bring CSP within an out of the victory, but a double to tie the game and a double to bring home two more and put Minot State on top proved to be the difference.
 
Concordia threatened with two hits in their half of the seventh, but they couldn't bring any runs home as the game finished with a 5-3 final.
 
Two players combined for all six hits for the Golden Bears as Nicole Thompson went a perfect 4-4 while Swenson went 2-3 with the homer.
 
Bemidji State 3, Concordia-St. Paul 1
In the second game of the day, Concordia's bats were silenced by Bemidji State starter Jessica Yost as they were held to just three hits in a 3-1 loss.
 
Yost (3-0) stayed unbeaten as she struck out 12, walked one and allowed the lone run in the complete game effort for the Beavers.
 
Haley Schanks (1-6) was the tough-luck losing pitcher for the Golden Bears as she allowed three runs on eight hits and walked just one as she pitched well in the complete game loss.
 
The Beavers scratched across a run in the first as Alexandra Ripka moved all the way from first base to home following three wild pitches as she put BSU out front 1-0.
 
They manufactured another run in the second as a leadoff single turned into another run following another wild pitch, a groundout to move the runner to third and another single to bring the run in.
 
Bemidji State added a third run in the third as Lyndsey Peterson homered to right to extend the lead to 3-0.
 
That would be all that Schanks would allow as she scattered four hits over the final three innings to keep the Golden Bears in the game.
 
Concordia put runners on in each of the first two innings, but didn't break through against Yost until the fifth. Jamie Fleischhacker got the inning started with a double before she advanced to third on a wild pitch with one out and Elena Koncar drove her in with a sacrifice fly to center to bring her in and put CSP on the board.
 
That would be it, though, as the only other Golden Bear hit the rest of the game came in the form of a single off the bat of Liz Jarosz in the seventh.
 
In addition to the double in the fifth from Fleischhacker and the single in the seventh from Jarosz, Elena Koncar added Concordia's other hit with a single in the second.
 
Concordia will get a chance to rebound against the Beavers as they take on Bemidji State tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. before closing out play against Minnesota Crookston at 9 a.m.