ST. PAUL, Minn. – As the poor weather continues in the Twin Cities, the Concordia-St. Paul softball team (22-16, 7-9 NSIC) has been forced to move another doubleheader indoors. This time the Bears will play Sioux Falls (24-11, 9-3 NSIC) in the West St. Paul Dome at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, April 17^th. The dome in West. St. Paul is becoming quite familiar to the Golden Bears as this will be their seventh and eighth games played there in the past two weeks.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears finished last week with a 3-1 record, splitting with Upper Iowa before sweeping Minnesota Crookston. The team hit a solid .346 on the week, holding a 45-33 edge in hits and outscoring their opponents 33-14.
 
In game one against Minnesota Crookston, CSP tallied a season-high 18 hits on their way to an 11-3 victory at the West St. Paul Dome. Senior Nicole Thompson had a big day offensively, going 4-4 at the plate and junior Carlie Hart was right behind her going 3-5 with two runs and an RBI.
 
Aryka Knoche, Hannah Carlson, and Lily Langevin also contributed on offense with two hits apiece and Knoche recorded a team-high three RBIs. Sophomore right-hander Samantha Sullivan earned the win on the mound, allowing three runs on six hits to improve to 5-4 on the year.
 
Game two was also an offensive affair, but this time for both teams, as CSP held a 12-11 edge in hits in the game. The Bears made the most of their opportunities, while also capitalizing on seven walks and four Crookston errors to still win by a score of 12-4.
 
After the first inning, Concordia trailed 2-1, but rallied to score four runs in the second and added runs in four other innings to build up their lead, while also holding the Eagles scoreless for the last four innings to secure the win. Thompson again led the offense, going 4-5 at the plate, scoring three runs and driving in an additional three. Hart, Justine Schattner, and Knoche also had multi-hit games and Knoche recorded the win on the mound to improve to 10-7 on the season.
 
SERIES HISTORY VS SIOUX FALLS
The Bears have only faced Sioux Falls ten times in their series history, going 2-8 against the Cougars in those matchups. USF has won the last five straight, with two of those contests being especially close, being decided by one run. The last time that the Bears have defeated the Cougars was in May of 2014, winning 7-5 in the NSIC Playoff Tournament. The other CSP win happened in April of 2013 when the Bears pulled out a 2-0 victory in Sioux Falls.
 
LAST MEETING WITH USF
Last season, the Bears were swept by the Cougars, losing the first 8-0 in five innings and the second 3-2.
 
In the first game, CSP struggled offensively, as Sioux Fall's Kerrigan Hoshaw threw a perfect game, retiring all 15 of the Concordia batters that she faced. The Bears had much more success in the second game, registering 10 hits throughout the contest. Sarah Kivisto and Schattner led the efforts at the plate, as Kivisto went 4-4 and Schattner went 2-4 with an RBI.
 
The Cougars scored one in the first inning of the second game and would hold onto that 1-0 lead until the sixth when a sac fly from Liz Jarosz would score Kivisto. Schattner drove in Hart in the following inning to help the Bears take a 2-1 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. Sioux Falls came up big in the seventh, though, hitting a solo homer and then loading the bases, allowing them to score on a CSP error to win it.
 
On the mound, Linzy Heim took the loss in game one, giving up eight runs (four earned) on ten hits. In game two, Samantha Sullivan was in the circle, giving up three runs (two earned) on 11 hits, and would take the loss.
 
CONFERENCE LEADERS
Throughout the season, the Golden Bears have had players rank near the top of the league in several different statistical categories.
 
Carlie Hart leads the conference in hits with 65 and ranks fifth in batting average at .445. The junior centerfielder also ranks third in runs scored (38), fifth in doubles (11), fourth in triples (4), second in total bases (93), and second in stolen bases (21).

Nicole Thompson is sixth in the NSIC in batting average, hitting .439, and third in hits with 58. The shortstop also ranks 11th in on-base percentage (.479) and sixth in stolen bases (17).
 
Junior Justine Schattner and sophomore Hannah Carlson have both recorded 18 walks throughout the season so far, which ranks as 8^th highest in the NSIC.
 
Right-handed pitcher Aryka Knoche ranks third in the conference in batters struck out with 79 and ninth in wins with ten.

Sophomore pitcher Kali Kaestner has the 16th lowest ERA in the NSIC at 3.13 and has held opponent batters to the ninth lowest average at .245.

HIT STREAKS
Centerfielder Hart owns the longest hit streak so far this season, with a hit in 21 straight games. The junior has also had 21 games with multiple hits, which is the most of any Golden Bear this season.
 
Knoche was close behind Hart with a 17-game hit streak, and Thompson has a current 16-game hit streak heading into tomorrow's games.

REACHING 200
On April 11^th, Nicole Thompson recorded her 200^th career hit in game one of their doubleheader against Upper Iowa. Thompson, who currently holds the highest career batting average at .403, became the seventh CSP player to ever pass the 200-hit mark and now is sixth in the most hits by any Golden Bear with 209. Anna Bjorlin (2007-10) holds the record for career hits with 248.