FAYETTE, Iowa – The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (11-26, 6-12 NSIC) was held to three runs in the doubleheader as they were swept on the road at Upper Iowa (28-12, 14-4 NSIC) on Tuesday afternoon. UIU took the opener 6-2 before grabbing game two 6-1.
 
Upper Iowa 6, Concordia-St. Paul 2
The Peacocks scored three in the first and two in the second to grab a decisive advantage as CSP was unable to close the gap in the first game of the day.
 
UIU starter Jacqueline Flood kept the Golden Bears off balance as she allowed just four hits and a pair of runs as she walked one and struck out six in the complete game victory.
 
Linzy Heim (8-13) took the loss as she gave up three earned runs and nine hits while collecting a pair of strikeouts.
 
Liz Jarosz picked up the lone CSP extra base hit as she doubled and scored while Justine Schattner also picked up a hit and a run. Jamie Fleischhacker and Lizzy Swenson added the other two hits while Kelly McKenzie picked up an RBI with a hit by pitch.
 
Upper Iowa got off to a fast start in the first as the first three hitters reached base, including an RBI single off the bat of Flood. That wouldn't be all in the inning as Tara Walls later followed with a sacrifice fly before Tara Duran added a two-out run scoring single to make it 3-0.
 
The Peacocks were right back at it in the second as Katie Sammons led off the inning with a homer to left center and Sami Kay Shafranski delivered single to drive in Sammy Garrett to push their advantage out to 5-0 after two.
 
Concordia broke through in the top of the fourth as Justine Schattner got the inning started with Liz Jarosz following it up with a double. After a lineout, Haley Schanks reached on a wild pitch on a third strike which also allowed Schattner to score. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Kelly McKenzie stepped in and was hit by a pitch to bring in their second run to pull back within three, but that's all the closer they would get.
 
UIU chipped in a late insurance run as Riley Kruel followed a Garrett double with a run scoring single to bring it to the final of 6-2.
 
Upper Iowa 6, Concordia-St. Paul 1
Offense was hard to come by for the Golden Bears as they were held to three hits while the Peacocks scored in their final three trips to the plate to claim the win.
 
After Lizzy Swenson and Kelly McKenzie singled in the third, the only other CSP offense came in the form of a Justine Schattner double and a Lauren Bartel walk as Brooke Redmond was excellent for Upper Iowa. Redmond struck out eight as she allowed one run in the complete game effort.
 
Haley Schanks was the losing pitcher for Concordia as she allowed five earned runs and struck out one in six innings of work.
 
UIU opened the scoring in the second as they took advantage of a Golden Bear miscue with the bases loaded which allowed Duran to cross the plate for the first run.
 
Concordia came back the next half inning as singles from Swenson and McKenzie set up a squeeze bunt for Jamie Fleischhacker to even it up at 1-1.
 
The Peacocks used the long ball to regain the lead in the fourth as Garrett went deep to kick off the inning before Flood added a two-run blast three batters later to bring the score to 4-1.
 
They got another in the fifth to add to their advantage as they flipped the script and used two walks and a pair of sacrifice bunts to push a run across and extend their lead to four.
 
One more came in in the sixth as a leadoff triple followed by a run scoring single with one down brought the game to the final score of 6-1.
 
Concordia returns home this weekend to host U-Mary on Saturday and Minot State on Sunday for Senior Day.