ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (20-23, 6-12 NSIC) snapped their nine-game losing streak on Tuesday, splitting games with Southwest Minnesota State (12-25, 7-11). The Golden Bears took game one 4-1 before falling to the Mustangs 6-5 in nine innings. 

Sydney Pelzer led CSP at the plate for the day, going a combined 4-7, with a double, home run, and two RBI. In the circle, Bryanna Olson rebounded from a tough set of games in Bemidji to pick up her 12th win of the season. The junior pitched her 13th complete game, holding the Mustangs to one run on five hits.

GAME ONE: Concordia 4, Southwest Minnesota State 1
Olson got the start in game one opposite SMSU's Shelby Bloemendaal, and both pitchers did a great job pitching for weak contact throughout the game. Each pitcher ended the game with just one walk while finishing with a complete game. 

Neither team scored in the first inning with the game's first run coming in the bottom of the second on an RBI groundout from Annalise Scamehorn with the bases loaded to score Jacey Defries. The 1-0 lead would hold as the score for the next three innings until the bottom of the fifth.

Taylor Griffin broke the scoring drought in the fifth inning with one out, pulling back a fake bunt to slap a single past the Mustang's shortstop to bring in pinch runner Tori Turgeon from second. SMSU cut the lead in half in the sixth, putting pressure on the Concordia offense. Olson's first walk of the day came back to bite her lone free pass and would score the only Mustang run of the game. 

Sydney Pelzer crushed any Southwest Minnesota State comeback hopes in the bottom of the sixth, smashing a two-run bomb over the center field fence to put the Bears up 4-1. A one-two-three seventh inning from Olson and the defense closed things out for Concordia to snap their losing streak and give them their first win in ten games. 

GAME TWO: Southwest Minnesota State 6, Concordia 5 (Nine Innings)
The second game of the doubleheader started as a pitching duel as Concordia starter Erica McCoulluogh and SMSU pitcher Karlie Miller kept the offenses in check through the first three innings. The pitchers held batters to one hit and two walks to keep runs off the board and the game locked at 0-0.

The bats broke through in the fourth starting with Southwest Minnesota State. The Mustangs loaded the bases and brought in two runs on a single and sacrifice fly before McCullough ended the inning with her third strikeout of the game. Miller got Alexus Houston to fly out to start the inning, but it would be the final out of her day as the Golden Bears next three at bats resulted in a home run from Grace Beseman, a single from Jacey Defries, and a pair of RBI doubles from Sydney Pelzer and Avery Johnson.

With a 3-1 deficit the Mustangs went to their bullpen, bringing in Allison Christians to relieve Miller. The Bears were able to put one more on the board before the end of the inning on a RBI single from Annalise Scamehorn to score Johnson. The game would remain 4-2 until the sixth as McCoullough continued to keep the Mustangs at bay. SMSU would close the gap to 4-3 in the top of the sixth with back-to-back doubles to score a run.

Southwest Minnesota State tied things up in the seventh. The Mustangs used small ball and an error to score an unearned run and threatened to take the lead with two in scoring position. McCoullough induced a fly out to Houston in right field to end the inning with things locked up at 4-4. The Golden Bears had an opportunity to walk things off in the bottom of the seventh, but Christians struck out Defries with the bases loaded to send CSP into extra innings for the second time in two days. 

The sophomore and senior pitchers were solid in the eighth as McCullough set SMSU down one-two-three and Christian's nullified a leadoff single by drawing a soft ground ball to double up CSP. The Mustangs took the lead in the ninth on a two-out, two-run home run from shortstop Abby Russell to go up 6-4. The Golden Bear's shortstop Taylor Griffin answered with a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth, but Christians would retire the final two CSP batters to take the victory for SMSU.

McCullough (6-6) took the loss in the nine inning outing, giving up five runs on eleven hits while striking out four and walking two. Christians got the win to move to 5-3 on the year, pitching 5.2 innings in relief, giving up just one run on four hits while striking out three and walking two. 

UP NEXT
The CSP softball team is back on the road this weekend for doubleheaders with Northern State (12-26, 6-12 NSIC) and MSU Moorhead (24-10, 12-4 NSIC) on Saturday and Sunday with games on both days at noon and 2:00 p.m.