ABERDEEN, S.D. – The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (12-24, 6-10 NSIC) came out swinging in game two to salvage a split against MSU Moorhead (10-22, 3-13 NSIC) at Presentation College on Sunday.
MSU Moorhead 3, Concordia-St. Paul 1The Dragons took game one in a pitcher's duel as the two teams combined to score in just two of the 13 trips to the plate. MSUM took advantage of the lone big inning as their three runs in the fourth proved to be the difference as CSP was unable to erase that deficit.
The Golden Bears put runners on in each of the first five innings but were unable to capitalize and put runs on the board as Morgan Nybo worked out of trouble all day.
Emily Shinn was the only Golden Bear to get to her as she connected on her first career homer in the seventh, but it wasn't enough to spark a comeback.
Carlie Hart,
Justine Schattner and
Sarah Kivisto picked up the other hits for the Golden Bears on the day while
Kelly McKenzie reached base twice on a pair of walks.
Nybo (4-12) allowed one run on four hits while walking four as she struck out three in the complete game victory.
Linzy Heim (8-12) nearly matched her stride-for-stride as she allowed three runs on eight hits as she grabbed four strikeouts in the six-inning complete game.
All of MSUM's scoring came in the fourth as four hits in the inning resulted in the game's only three runs. Taylor Roddie led off the inning with a double before Kristen Nordby singled her home to open the scoring. Kristi Bruni followed with another RBI single to bring in the second run before Sydney Beck picked up a one out single to score the third run.
Concordia finally broke through in the seventh as Shinn stepped in and went the opposite way with a pitch and deposited it over the left field wall. The Golden Bears had two more runners reach base as they brought the go-ahead run to the plate, but they were unable to complete the comeback as Nybo coaxed a groundout to close out the 3-1 win.
Concordia-St. Paul 12, MSU Moorhead 2 (5 inn.)The Golden Bears turned the tables in a big way in game two as they hammered out 12 runs on 12 hits in the first three innings of the game as they rolled to a five-inning victory.
Everybody joined in the act as all nine starters reached base and seven of nine reached base multiple times.
Justine Schattner was once again in the middle of the offensive outburst as she finished the game 3-4 with a double, three RBI and a pair of runs scored. Three three-hit game bumped her average back up to .393 while the three runs batted in moved her mark to 38 on the year.
Emily Shinn picked up where she left off at the end of game one as she slugged two doubles and drove in three as she also scored once.
Carlie Hart and
Kelly McKenzie also collected two hits as Hart scored three times and McKenzie hit a double.
Haley Schanks (4-12) picked up the win as she limited the Dragons to a pair of runs on seven hits as she struck out three in her five innings of work.
Concordia jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first as Hart and Schattner both singled before Hart scored on a passed ball.
The Dragons briefly took the lead in the bottom of the inning Kristen Nordby drove in two with a single, but it didn't last long as CSP answered right back in the second.
Schattner gave Concordia the lead back with a two-run single driving in McKenzie and
Jamie Fleischhacker before a
Liz Jarosz bunt single followed by an error scored two, Shinn doubled home two more and an error allowed a seventh run in the inning to cross the plate.
The Golden Bears put it out of reach in the third as a Schattner double plated another run and a passed ball Shinn double and Koncar single all scored runs as well to make it 12-2.
That would be it for scoring as Concordia closed out the split with a five-inning 12-2 win.
CSP remains on the road this Tuesday as they travel to Upper Iowa.
