ST. PAUL, Minn. - This Thursday, Concordia-St. Paul softball embarks on the postseason as the No. 6 seed in the 2022 NSIC Tournament, facing No. 3 seed Winona State in the opening round at noon at the RYFSA Complex in Rochester, Minnesota.

The Golden Bears enter postseason with a 35-12-1 overall record, winning 35 games in a season for the first time since the 2010 squad reached the NCAA Tournament. It's the ninth 30-plus win season in head coach Bob Bartel's 18 seasons. Concordia enters the postseason scorching hot, winning 11 of the final 12 games of the Northern Sun campaign to finish 18-10 in the league standings. They'll draw a Winona State team that holds a 37-13 overall record and went 23-5 in Northern Sun play. The Warriors enter postseason play with a six game winning streak and are 14-2 in their last 16 games, with their only blemish down the stretch a pair of 1-run losses at Minnesota State on April 26.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT & INFORMATION
The NSIC Tournament is a double-elimination event comprised of 10 teams, with the top six seeds opening in the main bracket while seeds 7-10 will play in the opening rounds to advance to the 8-team bracket. The losing team of the CSP/WSU contest will face the losing team from the No. 8 SMSU against No. 9 Sioux Falls matchup at 4 p.m. on Thursday in an elimination game, while the winning team advances to the NSIC Tournament quarterfinals to face the winner of No. 2 Minnesota State against No.7 UIU/No. 10 Wayne State winner on Friday, May 6 at noon. The quarterfinal winners meet at 4 p.m. on Friday in the semifinals, with the winning team heading to the NSIC Championship on Saturday at 2 p.m. against the winner of the elimination bracket, who must top the semifinal winner twice to claim the championship while the semifinal winner hoists the trophy with a single victory.

The winner of the NSIC Tournament earns the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Central Region Tournament. The 42-team NCAA Central Region is made up of teams from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) and the Great American Conference (GAC). Automatic bids are awarded to the tournament champions from each conference with the final five spots awarded on an at-large basis. 

The NCAA softball selections will be announced on www.NCAA.com on Monday, May 9 at 9 a.m. (CT).  The NCAA Championships are set for May 26-31 at The Assembly Athletic Complex hosted by Metro State University of Denver.

Day ($20 adult, $10 student) and tournament ($35) passes will be available for purchases at the main gate of the complex while children under five years of age are free of charge. Gates open one hour prior to the first scheduled games of the day, with all spectators entering through the main entrance. Coolers are not permitted, and the concession stand will be available for cash-only purchases. Bleacher seating is available at each field, and spectators are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs to provide additional seating outside the outfield and along the left and right field lines.

LAST MEETING: Rained Out
The two teams played everyone in the conference except each other, getting rained out in Winona on April 12 despite Bryanna Olson tossing three no-hit innings against the Warriors with four strikeouts. CSP's Clara Heislen had the only hit in the contest, going 1-2 while Sydney Pelzer also reached base safely with a walk in her lone plate appearance from the cleanup spot.

The last time the two teams completed competition, Winona State came away with a sweep at Carlander Field on April 22, 2021, boasting the #20 national ranking and winning 2-0 and 7-1 to extend their winning streak over CSP to 14 games.

The teams have played eight times on a neutral field, splitting 4-4.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY
Concordia-St. Paul has captured four NSIC Tournament championships, winning the titles in 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2006, the most recent two with head coach Bob Bartel in his first two seasons. Concordia is tied for second in league history with four NSIC Tournament titles along with Minnesota Duluth and Minnesota State while Winona State holds the top spot with seven championships, most recently in 2018. Minnesota State captured the 2021 title, the 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 and the 2019 tournament was carried by Augustana.

The Golden Bears are 38-25 all-time in the NSIC Tournament, dropping their first two games in last year's tournament but winning their first game in the 2018 and 2019 tournaments, including a pair of wins over UMD and Augustana in 2018.

START STRONG & FINISH STRONG
The Golden Bears had an historic start to the 2022 season, getting out to the best start in the team's Division II history by posting a 17-2-1 start through 20 non-conference games. Fast forward through a strong 18-10 record in league play, and the Golden Bears enter the postseason with an 10-1 record in the final 11 games of the NSIC slate, a 27-3-1 bookend to the season heading into the playoffs.