ST. PAUL, Minn. - With poor field conditions across the region, Concordia-St. Paul softball has announced several changes to this week's schedule. The Golden Bears will play six games in three days, with games being played Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
CSP (15-12, 1-1 NSIC) head to Wayne State (5-20, 0-2 NSIC) on Sunday to kick things off against the Wildcats with games at noon and 2:00 p.m. The Golden Bears take on Augustana (15-8, 2-0 NSIC) on Monday at noon and 2:00 p.m. in a doubleheader originally scheduled for Saturday. The Bears doubleheader with Sioux Falls (9-10, 0-0 NSIC) will now take place on Tuesday at the West St. Paul Dome with a 10:30 a.m. start time.
LAST TIME OUT
Concordia-St. Paul split their doubleheader with Minnesota State on Tuesday, defeating the Mavericks in game one 8-4, before falling in game two 5-4.
After falling behind 2-0 in game one, the Concordia bats came alive in the bottom of the second inning, tying the game on a Danni Sharum two-run homer. A leadoff home run off the bat of Clara Heislen broke the tie in the third to give Concordia a 3-2 lead. Minnesota State briefly tied it back up again in the fifth with a two-out RBI double, but CSP would regain the lead in the bottom of the inning on a Jacey Defries single up the middle to score Heislen.
After a one-two-three top of the sixth for Olson and the Concordia defense, the offense piled on four more runs in the bottom of the inning. Taylor Griffin got things started with an RBI single to extend the lead to two. Alexus Houston capped off the scoring for the Golden Bears, hitting a three-run shot to put CSP up 8-4.
The Mavericks battled to come back in the seventh, hitting a two-run home, but Olson was able to limit the damage and close things out to seal the Concordia victory. Olson finished the day with her 10th complete game of the season, giving up five runs on eight hits while striking out eight and walking three. The junior now moves to 10-6 on the year.
Concordia got on the board first in game two with Grace Beseman scoring on an RBI single up the middle. The Mavericks would strike in the fourth inning, putting two on base to set up MSU's catcher for a two-out, three-run home run to put them out in front 3-1.
Taylor Griffin brought Johnson home in the bottom of the fourth on a first pitch RBI single. Clara Heislen followed it up with her second double of the game to score Griffin and pinch runner Tori Turgeon to put the Bears ahead 4-3. MSU tied it up in the fifth on a two-out double from their DP and shut down Concordia in the bottom of the inning.. Neither team scored in the sixth, sending them to the final inning deadlocked at four runs apiece.
Back-to-back singles for Minnesota State to start the seventh ended the day for Erica McCullough. Kristi Pilz came on in relief and gave up an RBI single to the first batter she faced, before retiring the next three to end the inning. The one MSU run would prove to be the game winner as Maverick ace McKayla Armbruster would come on in the ninth and pick up a strikeout with bases loaded to get the save and end the game.
McCullough took the loss to bring her record to 4-3. The sophomore went six innings, giving up five runs on 12 hits while striking out two and walking none.
SERIES HISTORY: CSP 28, WSC 22
The Golden Bears and Wildcats will meet for a 50th and 51st time this Sunday with Concordia holding the slight edge in the series overall, but has dominated in recent years with a 9-1 record since 2017. Last year, CSP swept WSC 4-1 and 3-0. Bryanna Olson picked up the win in game one, limiting the Wildcats to four hits and an unearned run. Kristi Pilz threw a complete game, four hit shutout in game two, with two strikeouts.
ABOUT WAYNE STATE
Christy Warnock is in her first year as head coach at Wayne, becoming the 50th head coach in the program's history. This is her first head coaching job, previously serving as an assistant coach for the University of South Dakota.
Wayne State has two dangerous batters in Riley Holmberg and Kim Vidlack. Holmberg is third in the NSIC in hits with 33 and tenth in batting average at .402. Vidlack has the most extra base hits for the Wildcats (12) and the fifth-year veteran leads the conference in triples with five. In the circle,
SERIES HISTORY: AU 32, CSP 6
The Vikings have been very successful against CSP in their prior matchups. The Vikings defeated the Golden Bears 7-1 in their first ever matchup back in 2003. It was a back-and-forth rivalry for the next few years as Concordia went 5-5 against the Vikings in that stretch. After that it was all Augustana as they went on to win 21 straight games over the Golden Bears. The streak was finally snapped on May 5th, 2018 when CSP took Augie down 5-3 in a nine-inning thriller. The Bears took down Augustana again in 2022, defeating the top-10 ranked Vikings, 5-1, powered by two home runs by Clara Heislen.
ABOUT THE VIKINGS
Augustana is coached by Gretta Melsted who enters her 16th season with the Vikings. Melsted has been at the helm of one of the most dominant NSIC teams as she has led them to 13 straight winning seasons, three NSIC titles, three Central Region championships, and a national championship in 2019.
The Vikings are on a seven-game winning streak entering the week and won both of their opening NSIC games against Wayne State, 7-2 and 8-3. Augie has had two games against top-10 teams this season, falling to #8 Central Oklahoma, 8-1 and to #3 UT-Tyler, 3-2 in a comeback walk-off win by the Patriots.
Augustana's biggest threat at the plate this season has been Kennedy Buckman. The junior second baseman leads the NSIC in home runs with nine and is third in the conference in slugging percentage at .762. Sophomore Hailey Houston leads the Vikings in the circle going 7-2 with a 2.64 ERA. Her .250 batting average against, ranks eighth in the conference.
SERIES HISTORY: USF 13, CSP 6
The Cougars hold the edge in the all-time series as the teams are scheduled to meet for the 19th and 20th times this week. The Golden Bears are 3-6 in neutral site contests against the Cougars. USF was 2-1 over the CSP in 2022, including a 6-9 win to knock the Bears out of the NSIC Tournament.
ABOUT THE COUGARS
Sioux Falls are winners of five of their last seven games and play Winona State and Upper Iowa before taking on CSP. USF is led by head coach Shannon Pivovar. In her six years as head coach, Shannon Pivovar has directed the Cougars Softball program to a 94-97 overall record.
USF's player to watch is second baseman Megan Lawson. The junior leads the team with 21 hits and a .420 batting average, which ranks fifth in the conference. In the circle the Cougars are led by Kait Van Der Zwaag who has pitched to 3.48 ERA on her way to a 6-3 record.
