EMPORIA, Kan. - The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (3-7) split their final two games at the Emporia 5-State Classic, defeating Missouri-St. Louis (2-3) 5-0 and falling to Emporia State (7-4) 5-3 in game two. 

EMPORIA 5-STATE CLASSIC PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS
CSP had several impressive performances over the three day weekend with players getting six more games under their belt for the season. 

Golden Bear ace Bryanna Olson was the top Concordia pitcher on the mound, going 2-1 and putting together a 2.45 ERA over 20 innings. The right-hander gave up 13 hits and seven earned runs in three appearances with 21 strikeouts.

Concordia batters put eight balls over the fence with four Bears hitting home runs. Clara Heislen led the way with three home runs with Danni Sharum and Grace Beseman hitting two apiece. Sydney Pelzer and Sharum finished with the highest average (.333) and tied with Beseman for the most hits (5) in the six games. 

Sharum finished the weekend leading the team in slugging percentage (.800), on base percentage (.444), and with the most runs batted in (5). 

GAME ONE: CSP 5, UMSL 0
The Golden Bears avenged their 10-2 loss to the Tritons from their first game of the weekend by blanking them on Monday, 5-0. Bryanna Olson had a strong outing on the mound pitching a one hit shutout over seven innings. The junior got over a shaky start that saw her hit two batters before settling in to strike out seven while walking just two.

Concordia got on the board quickly in the bottom of the first inning with Alexus Houston driving in Clara Heislen, who walked to lead off the inning, for her third RBI of the season. 

Heislen would score again for CSP in the third inning, taking Triton pitcher Megan Brown deep to left for her third home run of the weekend. The Golden Bears would knock Brown out of the game in the fifth inning after a Heislen walk and a Houston single set up Grace Beseman for a three-run home run. 

The Missouri-St. Louis reliever kept the Concordia offense scoreless over the final two innings, but Olson did the job closing out the game, getting a one-two-three sixth inning with two strikeouts and picked up two more K's in the seventh to preserve the shutout. 

GAME TWO: ESU 5, CSP 3
The Golden Bears struck first to go ahead 1-0 in the second inning with a Sydney Pelzer coming into score on a Jacey Defries single through the left side. The Hornets answered with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning after two costly fielding errors by CSP.

After both pitchers got three quick outs in the third inning, the Golden Bears would tie it up in the top of the fourth. Grace Beseman got the inning started, beating out an infield hit before Danni Sharum launched a ball over the center field fence to bring them both around. Sharum would make another clutch play in the bottom of the fourth, throwing out a ESU runner at second to erase a leadoff walk for the Hornets. 

Emporia State  broke the tie in the fifth inning on an unearned run. After the first ESU batter reached on an error and advanced to third on a groundout, left fielder Lexi Williams laid down a sacrifice bunt to bring them in. 

The Hornets would bring one more run across the plate in the sixth inning to add some insurance to their lead. A one-out walk would make it around to score the final run of the game on a two out ESU single. 

Concordia would have one more chance in the seventh inning after a single by Annalise Scamehorn brought the tying run to the plate with one out. Emporia State quickly suffocated the Golden Bears comeback hope, cutting down the lead runner on a fielder's choice on the next at-bat and closing it out as Taylor Griffin popped up to the second baseman to end the game. 

CSP starter Erica McCullough had a decent game, pitching all six innings, allowing five hits and three earned runs while picking up a strikeout. The right-hander falls to 0-2 with the loss.

UP NEXT: THE Spring Games - March 3-9
The Golden Bears get a break this week before heading to Florida for ten games in six days. CSP will have a chance to compete against teams from around the country, including a matchup with #11 Grand Valley State. Concordia has had success in the warmth of Florida going 13-4-1 in the Sunshine State over the last three seasons.