LAS VEGAS, Nev. – The Concordia-St Paul softball team (1-1) split on the first day of the season as they handed Concordia-Portland an 8-7 loss before falling to California Baptist 10-2 in five innings in the Desert Stinger on Friday.
 
Justine Schattnet had quite a debut for the Golden Bears as she went 3-5 in the two games with a double and a two-run home run in the two games as she drove in three runs. Her homer gave Concordia the decisive advantage in the game one win while she added one of the team's three hits in game two.
 
Concordia-St. Paul 8, Concordia-Portland 7
The Golden Bears kicked off the season in dramatic fashion with a back-and-forth offensive battle in which freshman Justine Schattner played the role of hero with a game-winning, go-ahead homer in the top of the seventh.
 
Concordia ran out to a 5-1 lead through the first two and a half innings but slowly saw it slip away as the Cavaliers scored two in the third, two in the fourth and two in the sixth to take a 7-6 lead before Schattner delivered the winning blow.
 
CSP opened the scoring in the second as Haley Schanks walked and Liz Jarosz singled before advancing on a passed ball. Lizzy Swenson drove in the first run with a blooper to right before Jarosz scored on a wild pitch and Elena Koncar singled home Swenson to make it 3-0.
 
The Cavaliers took one back in the bottom of the inning before Hart laced her first career hit up the middle, Nicole Thompson singled through the right side and Jamie Fleischhacker singled to center to load the bases. Schanks delivered a sacrifice fly and Jarosz drove in a run on a grounder that was misplayed by the second baseman to balloon the lead to 5-1.
 
Concordia-Portland erased the lead with two runs in each of the next two innings to tie it up at five heading to the fifth. Fleischhacker nearly single-handedly put CSP back in front as she doubled to lead off the fifth before advancing on a wild pitch and scoring on an illegal pitch.
 
That lead held until the bottom of the sixth when Meghan Luebbert tied the game with a solo homer to start the inning. Concordia-Portland played some small-ball the rest of the inning as they manufactured the go-ahead run to take a 7-6 lead into the seventh.
 
After a fly out to start the inning, Jarosz put the pressure on with a double to the warning track in right field. That set the stage for Schattner as she deposited the first pitch she saw over the wall in left to give CSP the decisive advantage at 8-7 with her first career homer.
 
Linzy Heim allowed just a one-out single as she worked through the seventh without too much trouble to pick up the complete game win. She struck out four in the game as she battled through for the victory.
 
Koncar finished with a team-best three hits in four trips to the plate while Fleischhacker, Jarosz and Schattner added two hits apiece while the team slugged out 12 hits in the game.
 
California Baptist 10, Concordia-St. Paul 2 (5 inn.)
After the Golden Bears opened the scoring in the top of the first, the Lancers exploded for 10 runs over the first three innings to put the game out of reach.
 
Carlie Hart led off the game with rocket to left field that short-hopped the wall as she cruised into second with a double. Hart advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt before scoring later in the inning on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Schattner.
 
Cal Baptist responded with four runs in the bottom of the first, two in the second, and four in the third as they turned a 1-0 Concordia lead into a 10-1 deficit.  They collected nine hits, including three-run homer, in those three innings.
 
Concordia did manage to get one back in the fourth as Schattner doubled with one out before scoring on an error off the bat of Emily Shinn.
 
That would be it from there as the Lancers closed out the game in five with a 10-2 loss for the Golden Bears.
 
The team was held to just three hits by CBU starter Kayla Hatch, who struck out two in the complete game win.
 
In addition to hits from the two freshmen, Kelly McKenzie also added a single for the Golden Bears in the third.
 
Schanks took the loss for CSP as she struck out one in her four innings of work.
 
Concordia will continue action as they face Hawaii at Hilo at 1:30 p.m. and Concordia-Irvine at 6:30 p.m.