ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Golden Bear softball team (32-18, 19-11 NSIC) swept Northern State (18-34, 10-20 NSIC) at Carlander Field on Senior Day to improve their win streak to 10 straight games. Concordia will now look ahead to the conference tournament that begins on May 2^nd.  
 
With the wins, this 2019 team has won the most games since the 2012 season and has tied the most conference wins in a season since 2010.
 
The Golden Bear offense continued to hit well, collecting 19 hits in the doubleheader with six players accumulating two hits or more and four players each driving in two runs. Senior Carlie Hart had the most hits on the day, going 5-8 (.625) at the plate while slugging for a .875 percentage and stealing three bases. She also scored two runs, tying her single-season runs record that she set last season (56).  
 
NSIC Playoffs
The NSIC playoff tournament runs from May 2-4 and will be hosted in Rochester, Minnesota this year. The Golden Bears will enter the tournament as the sixth seed, as they finished sixth in the conference standings. This sixth place finish is two spots ahead of where the team finished last season. As the sixth seed, CSP is slated to play the three seed, Minnesota Duluth.
 
GAME 1: CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL 3, NORTHERN STATE 1
The Golden Bears used three early runs and a solid pitching performance to win game one, 3-1. Six CSP players combined to tally ten hits in the game, while the Wolves were held to eight hits through seven innings.
 
Junior Samantha Sullivan started in the circle for the Bears, pitching the first six innings, giving up one run on eight hits. With the win, Sullivan improves to 13-8 on the year. Kali Kaestner recorded the last three outs for the Bears, collecting her fifth save this season. Both Sullivan and Kaestner had two strikeouts, while walking only one in the game.
 
Carlie Hart, Justine Schattner, Hannah Carlson, and Cam Veenbaas all had two hits in the contest, with Schattner, Carlson, and Mortenson each driving in a run.
 
The Golden Bears scored right away in the first inning, which is the eighth time they have done so in the past nine games. Both Hannah Carlson and Mortenson came up with RBIs in the inning to give CSP the lead, driving in Kris McIntyre and Schattner.
 
CSP added another run in the third, with Veenbaas singling, advancing to second on a Hart single, and scoring on a single from Schattner.
 
Sullivan and the defense kept the Wolves scoreless throughout the first six innings, scattering five hits and stranding five runners on base.
 
The Bears also had some other scoring chances in the following four innings, having runners on first and second in both the fourth and sixth innings, as well as runners on second and third in the fifth inning. Northern State held tough on defense, though, stranding all of those runners on base.
 
In the seventh, the Wolves put together a strong comeback attempt, loading the bases with no outs. At this point Kaestner came in to relieve Sullivan, getting out of the jam allowing only one runner to cross. The run scored on a fielder's choice to right field, but Kaestner proceeded to strike out the final two batters, leaving the tying run on second base.
 
GAME 2: CONCORDIA-ST. PAUL 6, NORTHERN STATE 1
CSP once again got on the scoreboard early in game two, leading 4-1 after the first two innings. The Bears would tack on two more runs throughout the remainder of the game to win 6-1 and ending the regular season with a 10-game winning streak.
 
Hart led all CSP hitters, going 3-4 with a pair of doubles, two runs, and a stolen base. With a double in the first inning, Hart extended her hit streak to 14 games. Freshman Katie Carlson was the other Golden Bear to have multiple hits in the game with both a single and a double.
 
Kaestner earned her 11^th win of the season in the game, pitching all seven innings, giving up one run on seven hits. This was the junior's eighth complete game this season.  
 
The Golden Bears improved to 20-3 on the year when scoring in the first inning, taking a 2-1 lead with Hart scoring on a single from Hannah Carlson and Schattner scoring on a Mortenson fielder's choice. The Wolves also had two hits in the first inning, scoring their run on a groundout to Veenbaas at second base. After the first, Kaestner held the Wolves scoreless for the next six innings.
 
Concordia built on their lead in the second when Hart hit her second double of the game and scored when McIntyre reached on an NSU error. Schattner then singled up the middle to score McIntyre, who had advanced to second on the previous error. This gave the Bears a 4-1 lead heading into the third.
 
The Bears had a good chance to score in the fourth as Veenbaas doubled to lead off the inning, but they did not score until the fifth when Katie Carlson drove in two runs with a double to left center.
 
Hart would maintain this 6-1 lead by robbing a Northern State home run in the sixth and Kaestner turned a double play and forced a fly out in the seventh to seal the win.