MOORHEAD, Minn. – With two impressive offensive showings, the Concordia-St. Paul softball team (26-18, 11-11 NSIC) swept Minnesota State Moorhead (11-23, 4-12 NSIC), compiling 27 hits throughout the day. The Golden Bears have now won 22 of the last 24 against the Dragons, including winning the last seven in a row.
GAME 1: Concordia-St. Paul 11, MSU Moorhead 3
Concordia used a big first inning to help them on their way to winning the opener, 11-3. Nine different Golden Bears recorded at least one hit, outhitting the Dragons 15-8 in the game. This was their 20
th game with 10+ hits so far this year.
Sophomore
Kris McIntyre and junior
Carlie Hart led the offensive efforts, each tallying three hits. McIntyre was critical to the Bears' five-run first inning, as she hit a base-clearing triple to drive in three runs. Later in the game, the California native would hit her first career home run to extend the lead to 10-3 and finish the game with a career-high four RBIs.
Hart reached base all four times that she was up in game one, starting the day getting hit by a pitch, followed by a triple and two singles. The centerfielder also ended with two runs, an RBI, and a stolen base.
Senior
Haley Schanks started the scoring when she singled to score Hart in the first inning. This was followed by McIntyre's triple and then senior
Lizzy Swenson drove in McIntyre on a sacrifice bunt.
The Dragons got one of those runs back in the bottom of the first, but CSP added two more when junior
Justine Schattner hit her fourth home run of the year, this time a two-run shot to left field to put the Bears up by six runs.
MSUM scored another in the fourth, but Concordia added a run in the fourth and sixth innings, as well as two in the seventh to put the game out of reach. Hart drove in the run in the fourth, and
Lauren Bartel, who went 2-2 at the plate, scored in the sixth on a MSUM error. McIntyre and
Hannah Carlson had the RBIs in the seventh.
Sophomore right-hander
Kali Kaestner went the distance, pitching all seven innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, while tying her season-high in strikeouts with seven. With the win, Kaestner improves to 8-5 on the year.
GAME 2: Concordia-St. Paul 9, MSU Moorhead 0 (5 innings)
The Bears completed the sweep with another solid game at the plate, scoring nine runs on 12 hits to defeat the Dragons in five innings. Sophomore Ayrka Knoche was impressive on the mound, allowing only two hits in her second shutout of the year.
Nicole Thompson, Schanks, Carlson, and
Amanda Parsons each tallied two hits apiece for the Golden Bears. Schanks and freshman
Cam Veenbaas were the leaders in RBIs, each ending with two.
Concordia opened up their scoring in the second inning, when Schanks and McIntyre hit back-to-back singles. Carlson followed that with a double to score Schanks and
Cam Veenbaas drove in McIntyre.
Lily Langevin then singled up the middle to score Carlson.
Schanks added two more runs in the third, hitting her third home run of the year to score herself and Thompson to make it 5-0. The Bears were held scoreless in the fourth, but scored four in the fifth to stretch their lead to nine. Thompson and Schattner each singled to start the inning and stole their way around the bases, as Thompson stole third and scored on a MSUM error, and Schattner scored on a wild pitch. Later in the inning, Carlson singled and Parsons doubled, which allowed Carlson to score on a wild pitch and Parsons to score on a Veenbaas single.
Knoche and the defense finished it off, not allowing the Dragons to score in the bottom of the fifth, despite having two runners on base. With the win, Knoche improves to 12-8 on the season.
UP NEXT
The Bears return home this week to finish the regular season with a six-game homestand. The homestand opens with a midweek game against #8 Winona State and concludes with weekend doubleheaders against U-Mary and Minot State.
