CLERMONT, Fla. - The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (10-10) wrapped up their Florida trip on Thursday, splitting their final two games. The Golden Bears defeated Cedarville University (4-9) 4-1, before falling to Ferris State (6-12) 8-2. 

Concordia continued their success in the state of Florida, finishing with a 7-3 record and are 20-7-1 in the sunshine state over the last four seasons.
.
GAME ONE: Concordia 4, Cedarville 1
The Golden Bears outhit the Yellow Jackets 10-2 to pick up their fourth straight win on Thursday morning. Concordia starting pitcher Erica McCullough had an outstanding game, going all seven innings while giving up just one run on two hits and five strikeouts.

McCullough set the tone early, striking out three Bulldog batters in the first inning. The Concordia offense backed her up with the first run of the game in the top of the second. With two outs and a runner in scoring position, Avery Johnson singled to drive in Sydney Pelzer from second to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. 

Ferris State manufactured a run to tie it up in the bottom of the third inning. A leadoff walk and steal by Dana Bertke put her in scoring position and a sacrifice bunt moved her over to third with two outs. Bulldog left fielder Faith Bergner converted on the scoring opportunity with a double to right center to tie the game at 1-1.

The tie would be short lived as the Golden Bears put two more on the board in the top of the fourth. Grace Beseman was hit by a pitch and Pelzer walked to put two on with no outs. A steal by Beseman advanced both runners into scoring position with no outs. Concordia brought both home on an RBI groundout by Annalise Scamehorn to score Beseman and a single by Griffin to score Pelzer. 

After both teams went down in order in the fifth inning, the Golden Bears added one more in the sixth. Scamehorn singled with two-outs and was replaced with pinch runner Rachael Novak. A steal put Novak into scoring position to set up Griffin for her second RBI of the game on a single up the middle to give CSP a 4-1 lead. 

McCullough closed it out for the Golden Bears for her third win of the season (3-2). She retired all three batters she faced in the sixth and gave up just her second hit of the game in the seventh before inducing a pop up for the final out of the game. It was the best outing of the season for McCullough as she held Ferris State's batters to just a .090 average for the game. 

Cedarville starter Casey Bertke also went all seven innings, giving up 10 hits, and four earned runs. She had three strikeouts, a walk, and a hit batter.

Griffin was the star at the plate for Concordia, going 2-for-4 with two RBI. Scamehorn and Alexus Houston also picked up two hits in the contest. As a team the Bears hit for a .345 average in the win.

GAME TWO: Ferris State 8, Concordia 2
Concordia saw its four game win streak snapped by the Bulldogs with Ferris State consistently generating runs throughout the game. 

Abby Meyer got things started for FSU, leading the game off with a single and coming in to score on a two-out double by Kaitlyn Orme. The Bulldogs tried to get one more with runners on second and third, but were thrown out at the plate by Sydney Pelzer after a throw down to second.

An early hit in the second inning would come back to bite the Bears as Ferris State scored another run on another two out double, this time from catcher Kaitlyn Fick. CSP would respond in the bottom half of the inning to tie it up. Grace Beseman and Pelzer got things started with back to back hits and put themselves into scoring position. Taylor Griffin brought them both home on a single up the middle for her third and fourth RBI of the day. 

After a quiet third inning for both teams, FSU blew the game open with a five run top of the fourth. The Bulldogs loaded the bases with one-out for Meyer, who cleared the bases with a double to left field. A hit batter, a walk, and a two-run double ended the day for Bears starter Bryanna Olson. Kristin Pilz relieved her and got the final out.

Olson gave up four earned runs on nine hits with three walks and a hit batter in 3.2 innings. The junior gave up five doubles in the game, the most of her career.

Concordia had scoring opportunities in the fourth and fifth innings, but could not bring anyone across the plate. Pelzer smacked a one-out triple in the fourth, but was left on third after FSU's starter Cathrine O'Donohue shut down the next two batters to end her day in the circle. 

O'Donohue went four innings, giving up two runs on four hits while striking out two. She picked up the win to move to 2-5 on the season. She also did damage at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI.

The Golden Bears loaded the bases with two-outs in the fifth inning, but Bulldog reliever Kristina Baar was able to end the threat with a fly ball out to keep CSP off the board in her one inning of work.

Errors by the Concordia defense allowed Ferris State to tack on one more in the top of the seventh to increase their lead to six. FSU's third pitcher Aryn Gallacher kept the Golden Bears off the board in the final two innings to give the Bulldogs the win 8-2.

Bears reliever Kristi Pilz was solid over the last 3.2 innings, giving up three hits and an unearned run while striking out two with a walk.

Ferris State out-hit CSP 12-5 and committed one error to Concordia's three. Pelzer had the best game at the plate for Concordia going 2-for-2 with a triple. Griffin had both RBI for the Golden Bears while going 1-for-3.

UP NEXT
The Concordia softball team returns home for some rest before hitting the road for their last round of non-conference games. The Golden Bears will head south for the MIAA/NSIC Crossover event for six games against MIAA opponents with games in Missouri and Kansas. CSP opens things up with a double header on Friday against #6 Central Oklahoma.