WEST ST. PAUL, Minn. - On a cold, wet and snowy Thursday morning, Concordia-St. Paul welcomed Sioux Falls to the Twin Cities for a relocated NSIC doubleheader at the West St. Paul Dome with the teams splitting the day as USF picked up a 4-3 game one before Concordia won game two by the same score, 4-3.

The Golden Bears move to 21-6-1 on the year and 4-4 in the Northern Sun while USF is 14-14 overall and 2-5 in the NSIC.

Freshman Sydney Pelzer, the team's regular at second base, powered the game two win by going 2-3 with two home runs and three RBIs while sophomore Jacey Defries followed Pelzer in the second inning with back-to-back homers to start the inning for the early lead in game two.

Senior catcher Amanda Parsons went 4-7 while Defries was 3-6 in the doubleheader.

Concordia is scheduled to hit the road this weekend for a Saturday doubleheader at St. Cloud State (19-9, 7-0 NSIC) at 1 p.m. followed by a trip to face Minnesota Duluth (20-9, 5-3 NSIC) on Sunday at noon.

GAME 1: SIOUX FALLS 4, CSP 3
The difference in game two was the Cougars' run in the first inning, as the teams matched each other with a run each in the third and two runs apiece in the fourth as CSP momentarily claimed a 3-2 lead in the middle innings as Amanda Parsons led off with a single and scored on the next at bat when Alexus Houston tripled to center field, coming in to score on a sacrifice fly by Sydney Pelzer.

Sioux Falls struck back in the bottom of the inning, reclaiming the lead with a swing as Taryn Wagner hit a 2-run homer to right field with one out.

Parsons singled with one out in the sixth inning, with pinch runner Rachel Novak stealing second base, but USF retired the final five CSP batters to close the door and preserve the 1-run lead.

Parsons was 2-3 with a run while Houston's triple was her second of the year. Defries was 2-3 and leadoff hitter Clara Heislen went 1-2 with her seventh home run of the season along with a walk.

Bryanna Olson took the loss, falling to 13-3 while allowing three earned runs in six innings, striking out seven to just one walk.

GAME 2: CSP 4, SIOUX FALLS 3
In game two, Sydney Pelzer and Jacey Defries broke a scoreless tie, starting the second inning with back-to-back home runs. CSP threatened to produced a big inning, putting runners on first and second with one out, but left a pair on base.

In the third, Pelzer delivered a 1-out, 2-run homer, with both homers heading the opposite way to right field, putting Concordia ahead 4-0.

The Golden Bears looked to continue piling runs on in the fourth, but stranded runners on second and third through the middle of the order with the Cougar pitching staff starting a streak of 10 straight outs and allowing just one runner to reach first base the rest of the game, a two-out single by Amanda Parsons in the seventh inning.

The four runs would be enough, as freshman left handed pitcher Erica McCullough was exceptional early and held on for the victory. She retired seven straight in the early innings and had allowed a stray double in the first and a two-out walk in the third for the only baserunners against her through three innings.

She needed just 69 pitches to breeze through five shutout innings before finally running into trouble in the sixth. Her line was complete with 5.1 innings, allowing two runs, scattering eight hits and a walk while striking out five on an efficient 84 pitches.

Sophomore right hander Bryanna Olson came in to finish the game, allowing a run in 1.2 innings with a pair of strikeouts. Her fifth save secured McCullough's fourth win of the year (4-3).

Pelzer went 2-3 with the two homers, pushing her season total to three while leading the team with 22 RBIs. For Defries, it was her first home run of the year with her average bumping up 23 points in the doubleheader as she went 3-6 at the plate including 1-3 in game two.

Halle Bemmels and Amanda Parsons also had multi-hit games, each going 2-4. Bemmels hit her first double of the year while also stealing her eighth base while Parsons' 4-hit doubleheader performance lifted her season average to a team-leading .425.