ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (26-18, 13-11 NSIC) are set to travel to Marshall, Minnesota for their final road games of the regular season, taking on Southwest Minnesota State on Wednesday at 2 and 4 p.m. The Golden Bears will then close out regular season play with a home weekend, facing both MSU Moorhead and Northern State this upcoming weekend.
 
With a week left in the regular season, Concordia is in a three-way tie for sixth place in the conference. The top-10 teams in the NSIC make the postseason tournament that will take place in Rochester, Minnesota from May 2-4. With six games left, there are many possibilities for where the Bears will finish in the standings.
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears swept their last two opponents, defeating both Bemidji State and Minnesota Crookston at home. CSP had a run-rule victory in each of the doubleheaders with the other game in doubleheader being decided by two runs or less.
 
The Concordia offense had an impressive weekend, hitting for a .424 average and collecting 19 extra-base hits, including eight home runs. The team was led by senior Justine Schattner who hit for an imposing .833 average with 15 hits, nine RBIs, and three stolen bases. Teammate Carlie Hart also reached double-digit hits (10) and stole seven bases.
 
Against Bemidji State, the Golden Bears jumped out to an early 6-1 lead after two innings. However, the Beavers got the game within one, scoring three runs in the fifth to make it 6-5. CSP then exploded for six runs in the bottom of the inning to give themselves a more comfortable lead. A single from Cam Veenbaas in the sixth drove in Amanda Parsons to give the Bears a six-inning, run-rule victory with a score of 13-5.
 
Game two took double the amount of innings to decide a winner, with the Golden Bears pulling out an 11-10 win in 12 innings. CSP held a 17-13 edge in hits in the game and each team scored in five different innings. The Bears held a 10-8 lead heading into the seventh, but the Beavers hit a two-run home run to tie it, sending it to extra innings. The next four innings were scoreless, until Hannah Carlson singled to score Kris McIntyre in the bottom of the 12^th to win it for CSP.
 
On Saturday against Minnesota Crookston, the Bears improved to 40-1 in their all-time series against the Golden Eagles. In game one, both teams recorded 11 hits and were tied at five runs after five innings. In the sixth, both Hart and Schattner were able to score to put the Bears up 7-5. UMC put the tying run on base in the top of the seventh, but pitcher Kali Kaestner got CSP out of the inning to give the Bears the win.
 
In game two, Concordia outhit the Golden Eagles 14-5 and cruised to 14-4 win in five innings. The Bears homered four times in the game, with Hannah Carlson hitting two and Amanda Parsons and Hanna Mortenson each had one. With the win, Kaestner tallied her fourth win of the week for CSP.  
 
SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA STATE SERIES HISTORY
The Golden Bears will meet Southwest Minnesota State for the 51^st time on Wednesday, as CSP holds a 22-28 all-time record against the Mustangs. The Bears are an even 10-10 when playing in Marshall, last winning on the road against the Mustangs in 2017. SMSU has won three of the past five contests, including the last three in a row.
 
LAST MEETING VS. SMSU
CSP last met the Mustangs in the NSIC playoff tournament last season when SMSU took home a 5-2 win. The Mustangs hit a two-run home run in the top of the first inning to take a quick 2-0 lead. They added three runs in the next two innings to lead the Bears 5-0.
 
Concordia got one of those runs back in the bottom of the third when Nicole Thompson singled, stole second base, and scored on a Schattner single. The Bears cut the SMSU lead to three in the fifth when Hart scored on a wild pitch, but this was as close as they would get as the Mustangs stranded a CSP runner in the sixth and retired the Bears 1-2-3 in the seventh to win.
 
ABOUT THE MUSTANGS
Southwest Minnesota State is 17-19 on the year and is 12-12 in conference play. Most recently the Mustangs split with both UMary and Minot State. SMSU has a tough schedule to close out the regular season, facing the Golden Bears in their midweek and then taking on Minnesota Duluth and St. Cloud State on the weekend.
 
The Mustangs are hitting for a .276 average with 18 homers and 26 stolen bases on the season. The team has posted a .941 fielding percentage and a 3.86 team ERA. SMSU is led offensively by sophomore Bailey Johnson, who is the only player hitting over .400 while also slugging for a .710 percentage. She also has driven in the most runs, with 26.
 
Senior Athena Golling has been the Mustangs' most used pitcher, pitching over 100 innings with a 2.53 ERA, which ranks ninth-best in the NSIC. On the year, Golling has struck out 87 batters while walking only 17. She has a 10-9 record so far this season.  
 
KEY STATS
-Senior Carlie Hart had 12 hits last week and now sits second in the CSP record book in career hits, with 247 which is tied with current CSP assistant coach, Katie Anderson.
-Hart is also two stolen bases away from setting a new single season record in stolen bases (43) and needs to score eight more runs to break her own single season record in runs scored (56).
-Hart leads the NSIC in stolen bases (42), ranks sixth in batting average (.413), second in hits (64), and second in runs (49).
-Senior Justine Schattner ranks seventh in conference in batting average (.404), 10^th in on-base percentage (.461), and 10^th in RBIs (38).
-Schattner drove in nine runs last week and now ranks fourth on CSP's most career RBIs list. She is just seven RBIs away from becoming CSP's all-time leader in RBIs.
-Junior Kris McIntyre ranks 10^th in the NSIC in batting average (.397), sixth in on-base percentage (.475), and fifth in stolen bases (23).