ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (32-18, 19-11 NSIC) is returning to the NSIC playoff tournament for the second straight year, finishing sixth in the conference standings. This sets them up to play third-seeded Minnesota Duluth on Thursday, May 2^nd at 12 p.m.
 
The Golden Bears are entering the tournament with a 10-game winning streak, as they have swept their past five league opponents. Within that 10-game stretch, CSP has hit for a .377 average, collecting an impressive 33 extra-base hits.
 
Both Carlie Hart and Justine Schattner have had explosive performances recently, as they each hit for a .600+ average and drove in over 10 runs. Hart also stole 15 bases throughout these games. Junior Hannah Carlson led the team in RBIs, with 20, while also hitting for a .459 average.
 
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
This year's tournament is being played at the RYFSA Complex in Rochester, Minnesota. It will run from May 2-4 and is a double elimination format. The top-10 teams in the NSIC regular season standings make the tournament and the winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA central region tournament.
 
There is an entrance fee for each day of the tournament with the option of buying a tournament pass. More information on prices can be found at http://northernsun.org/tournaments/?id=54
 
A live video stream and live stats will be available for each of the games, with links that can be found on the softball schedule page. The live video stream is weather dependent and will be unavailable if it is raining.
 
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Golden Bears are 37-23 in their all-time NSIC tournament history, winning the tournament in 2001, 2004, 2005, and 2006. This is CSP's second-straight appearance in the tournament, as they went 2-2 in last year's tournament. Last season, Concordia opened the tournament with two wins, defeating Minot State in five innings before upsetting the number two-seeded Augustana in nine innings. The team was then defeated by Minnesota Duluth and Southwest Minnesota State to end their tournament run.
 
MINNESOTA DULUTH SERIES HISTORY  
The Golden Bears hold a 23-35 all-time record against the Bulldogs and have faced them four times already this season. In those four games, CSP is 1-3, with all of the games being decided by two runs or less. When playing at a neutral site, Concordia is 14-18 against UMD. The Golden Bears also met Minnesota Duluth in the conference tournament last year, falling to them in the third round by a score of 5-2.
 
LAST MEETING VS. UMD
CSP and UMD met twice in the non-conference season as well as their regular NSIC contests. In their last doubleheader, the two teams split with the Bears winning the first game 3-2 and the Bulldogs winning the second game 2-1. Concordia held a 12-9 edge in hits throughout the games, with Hart pacing the offense going 4-7 (.571) at the plate with four stolen bases.
 
In game one, the Golden Bears came from behind, trailing 2-0 after the first three innings. In the fourth, CSP tied it up, scoring two runs when Hannah Carlson doubled to left center. The Bears took over the lead in the fifth as Hanna Mortenson drove in McIntyre on a single up the middle. This would be all CSP would need as Kali Kaestner retired the final six UMD batters in order.
 
In the second game, CSP scored in the first inning, as Aryka Knoche drove in Hart to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. The Bulldogs answered in the fourth, loading the bases and scoring on a bases loaded walk. In the fifth, UMD's Kalynn Tilton hit a solo homer, which was the deciding run in the game.   
 
RECORDS AND CONFERENCE LEADERS
-Over the past week, senior Carlie Hart broke three records and tied a fourth. With two hits in game one against SMSU, Hart became CSP's all-time leader in hits and now has 261 career hits. In game two, she broke the all-time runs record and set a new single-season record in steals, breaking a record that was over ten years old. Then in the weekend's games, Hart tied her own single-season record for runs that she set last season at 56.
-Hart currently leads the conference in hits (78) and steals (50) while ranking second in runs (56), third in batting average (.438), and sixth in on-base percentage (.474).
-Justine Schattner is also chasing a record, being two RBIs away from being CSP's all-time leader. Additionally, she is fourth on CSP's all-time hit list with 235 career hits.
-Schattner is tied for ninth-most RBIs in the NSIC (43) and is also ranked ninth in average (.409).
-Junior Kali Kaestner had a solid week on the mound, going 3-0 in her three starts while also adding two saves, all with a 0.98 ERA.
-Kaestner ranks 10^th in the NSIC in ERA (2.66), second in saves (5), and ninth in opponent batting average (.253).