ST. PAUL, Minn. – In the last day of the regular season, both Minot State (25-22, 12-14 NSIC) and Concordia-St. Paul (28-22, 13-15 NSIC) brought their bats as the teams combined for 49 hits between the two games. The Beavers held a slight edge in hits, 26-23, on the day and made the most of Golden Bear errors to come away with two wins, defeating CSP 11-4 (9 innings) in game one and 9-7 in game two.
 
With their record of 13-15 in conference play, the Bears secured their spot in the NSIC tournament and will play next in Sioux Falls on May 3^rd. The official tournament bracket has yet to be announced.
 
GAME 1: Minot State 11, Concordia-St. Paul 4 (9 innings)
Minot State rallied in the top of the ninth inning, scoring seven runs to take the first game of the doubleheader 11-4. The Beavers led early, but the Bears scored four in the bottom of the seventh to send it to extra innings when sophomore Aryka Knoche hit a grand slam over the left field wall. It was Minot, though, that came up the clutch hits in the extra innings to earn the win.
 
Senior Nicole Thompson, junior Justine Schattner, and Knoche led the offense, each having a multi-hit game. Thompson went 3-5 with two stolen bases and a run and Schattner recorded two hits. Knoche had two hits and drove in all of CSP's runs on her grand slam.
 
As a team, Concordia was active on offense all game, but struggled to get runners across, leaving two runners on base in the first, second, third, and fifth innings. The Beavers were able to get on the board first, scoring three runs in the fourth and adding another in the sixth.
 
The Bears entered the seventh down four, but rallied to tie it up. Carlie Hart got on first on a Beaver error, which was followed by back-to-back up-the-middle singles from Thompson and Schattner to load the bases. All three would score when Knoche came up with a clutch grand slam to tie the game at four apiece and send it to extra innings.
 
CSP had runners in scoring position in both the seventh and eighth, but it was Minot State who scored, exploding for seven runs in the top of the ninth, hitting a two-run home run and then adding five more on four hits and two walks.
 
Samantha Sullivan started on the mound for the Bears, pitching the first 3.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits. Sophomore Kali Kaestner relieved Sullivan and pitched the final 5.2 innings, giving up eight runs on nine hits, eventually taking the loss. Kaestner is now 9-6 on the year.
 
GAME 2: Minot State 9, Concordia-St. Paul 7
In game two, both offenses were again active, as Minot held a slight 12-11 advantage in the hits category. The Bears' scored in each of the first four innings, holding a lead until the sixth. Minot came up with another late rally to win it in the seventh, 9-7.
 
Thompson, Schattner, and Knoche were once more the leaders at the plate for the Golden Bears, each tallying two hits. Thompson added two runs to her stat line and Schattner also recorded a run and an RBI. Knoche continued her big hitting day by leading the Bears in RBIs again, this time with three.
 
Knoche, who now leads CSP in home runs and RBIs, got the Bears on the board first with a three-run homer to dead center, scoring both Thompson and Schattner. Amanda Parsons and Carlie Hart doubled in the following inning, to extend Concordia's lead to 4-0.
 
The Beavers answered in the top of the third with a three-run home run of their own, to make it 4-3. The Bears, however, got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning, when Hannah Carlson singled up the middle to score Haley Schanks from second.
 
The Bears tacked on two additional runs in the fourth when Schattner singled to score Lily Langevin and Thompson scored on a groundout from Schanks, making it 7-3 in favor of CSP.
 
From there, Minot took over the scoring, adding three runs in the fifth, one run in the sixth to tie it up, and two runs in the seventh to win it. A timely double followed up by a single scored the Minot runs in the fifth, a solo home run tied it in the sixth, and a solo home run in the seventh gave the Beavers the lead. Minot added an insurance run, scoring on a CSP error, and then held the Bears on defense in the bottom of the seventh, giving them the 9-7 win.
 
Knoche pitched the first six innings for the Bears and took the loss, allowing nine runs (seven earned) on 12 hits. Sullivan came in to close out the seventh, allowing no hits. Knoche is now 13-10 so far this season.
 
UP NEXT
With their games today, the Bears closed out the regular season and will play next in the NSIC Playoff Tournament that takes place from May 3-5 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The playoff bracket is yet to be announced, so check back to the softball page for all of the latest updates.