ROCHESTER, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (23-21, 17-11 NSIC) fell to both Minnesota Duluth and Northern State on day one of the NSIC Softball Tournament. With the losses, the Golden Bears have officially been eliminated from the tournament.
GAME ONE: Concordia-St. Paul 0, Minnesota Duluth 1
Both offenses struggled to string together good at-bats as there were just six combined hits between the two teams through the first seven innings. That trend continued into extra innings until Duluth added another hit in the 10th.
Heading into the 13th inning with both teams still scoreless, the Golden Bears threatened when Clara Heislen was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a one-out single by Kris McIntyre. Despite the threat, the Bulldogs got out of the inning when Grace Beseman grounded into a double play.
The Bulldogs got off to a solid start in the bottom of the 13th when Jessica Bren singled to left field. Bren would go on to reach second on a fielder's choice and take third on a single from Taylor Koehnen. Another single from Sidney Zavoral would bring her home to seal the game for UMD.
Despite earning the loss and moving to 12-7 on the season, Kali Kaestner pitched brilliantly for the Golden Bears as she recorded 10 strikeouts and only allowed nine hits in 12.2 innings of work.
Kris McIntyre was the top performer at the plate for the Golden Bears as she went 3-6 at the plate. Clara Heislen, Grace Beseman, and Amanda Parsons each recorded one hit in the game to bring the Bears' total to six.
Sam Pederson was sharp all afternoon for UMD as she struck out seven batters and only allowed six hits in 13 scoreless innings.
GAME TWO: Concordia-St. Paul 0, Northern State 5
The second game of the day started much the same as both teams were held scoreless in the first. Northern State opened the scoring in the second inning with a solo home run from Shelby Novotny to make it 1-0.
After an uneventful third inning, the Wolves broke the game open in the fourth as they added three runs on four hits to make it a 4-0 game. NSU added an insurance run in the seventh, though they would not need it as they went on to claim the 5-0 victory.
Kali Kaestner pitched her second complete game of the day, allowing 10 hits, five runs, and striking out 5 in seven innings. Between the two games, Kaestner's pitch count for the day reached 287.
Grace Beseman led the offense in game two as she went 2-3 at the plate. Amanda Parsons and Cam Veenbaas each went 1-2 in the game to bring the Bears' hit total to four.
Rachel Reinke led the Northern attack, going 3-4 with two RBIs and one run scored.
Meghan Anderson pitched well for the Wolves, striking out nine and allowing nly four hits in 5.2 innings pitched. Elyse Cuttic pitched in relief of Anderson, fanning three batters and holding the Bears scoreless in 1.1 innings.
