ABERDEEN, S.D. - The Concordia softball team (22-23, 7-12 NSIC) started their road trip off on a high note, sweeping Northern State (12-28, 6-14 NSIC) on Sunday 8-6 and 13-4. The pair of wins puts the Golden Bears 2.5 games back of Southwest Minnesota State for the tenth and final playoff spot for the NSIC Tournament with eight games to go.

CSP will be back on the diamond tomorrow for a tough doubleheader with fourth place MSU Moorhead. The Dragons are 25-11 and 13-5 in the conference. They split their Sunday doubleheader with fifth place Minnesota State on Sunday, falling 7-1 before defeating the Mavericks 13-3 in five innings in game two.

GAME ONE: Concordia 8, Northern State 6
Jacey Defries got things going on Sunday afternoon with a two-run shot with two outs to score Grace Beseman and give CSP a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Danni Sharum hit a leadoff home run in the top of the second for her eighth bomb of the season. The Golden Bears followed it up with two hits and a walk to load the bases, but NSU pitcher Lexi Chase was able to work her way out of the inning with a strikeout and to soft fly ball outs.

The Wolves took advantage of three hits and two Concordia errors to tie it up in the bottom of the second inning. The Golden Bears came back with three runs of their own in the third. Sydney Pelzer hit a leadoff double and scored two batters later on another double from Avery Johnson. Annalise Scamehorn followed it up with her first home run of the season, scoring Johnson and putting the Bears back in front 6-0.

Concordia scored again in the fourth inning with Grace Beseman scoring from third on a wild pitch. Northern State put two on with a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the inning, but CSP starter Bryanna Olson picked up two key strikeouts to end the inning with Concordia up 7-3

Annalise Scamehorn led off the fifth with her second home run of the game to cap off the Golden Bear scoring for the game. The Wolves went in order in the bottom of the inning with two lineouts and soft groundout to Olson. NSU got a bit of life in the final two innings with a two-run home run from DP Alexandria Arndt in the sixth and an RBI groundout from right fielder Averie Eagle in the seventh, but Olson was able to lock in and close out the sixth and the game with strikeouts.

Olson got the win and her 14th complete game to move to 13-13 on the season. The junior gave up four earned runs through seven innings on seven hits while striking out six and walking three. Annalise Scamehorn was the star of game one going 3-4 with two home runs and three RBI.

GAME TWO: Concordia 13, Northern State 4
The Golden Bears struck first again in game two, getting a pair of two-out RBI hits from Taylor Griffin and Rachel Novak in the top of the second. CSP poured it on in the third, scoring four more. Taylor Griffin picked up her second RBI while reaching on a fielder's choice to score Sydney Pelzer. Clara Heislen showed off her power two-batters later with a three run no-doubter for her tenth home run of the season. 

The Wolves cut into the Bears six-run lead in the bottom of the third, capitalizing with two runners in scoring position to put runs on the board on a sacrifice fly and an RBI single from Averie Eagle. NSU cut the lead in half in the fourth, scoring an unearned run on an error from Pelzer to bring in shortstop Kamdyn Barrientos.

Northern State put one more run across in the fifth inning to wrap up their scoring in the game. After two hits to start the inning, Concordia head coach Bob Bartel went to his bullpen to bring in Kristi Pilz to relieve starter Erica McCullough. McCullough finished as the pitcher of note and got the win to improve to 7-7. Through her four and third innings of work, the sophomore gave up three earned runs on five hits with a strikeout and four walks. With runners on first and third, NSU attempted a double steal, scoring as Jacey Defries threw out the Wolves runner heading to second. Pilz drew a flyout to end the inning and sent things to the sixth with CSP leading 6-4.

The Golden Bears offense made up for their silence in the fourth and the fifth with six hits and five runs in the sixth inning as four CSP batters picked up an RBI on the innings. Grace Beseman was the first to drive in a run with an RBI double to right center to score Heislen. Jacey Defries followed it with a two-RBI double to extend the lead to 9-4. The Bears were not done yet as Avery Johnson and Annalise Scamehorn went back-to-back with RBI singles to increase Concordia's lead to seven.

The lead ballooned to nine in the seventh with the Golden Bears hanging three more on the board. CSP put two in scoring position with no outs with a single by Novak and a double from Morgan Medlo. Alexus Houston doubled in the next at-bat to bring in Novak before Pelzer scored Medlo while tying the CSP record with her 10th sacrifice fly of her career.

Pilz was solid in relief, setting down seven of the eight batters she faced in her two and two-third innings of work while giving up no runs on one hit while striking out two. The 13-4 win was an offensive group effort as ten batters picked up hits and nine drove in a run. The 29 combined hit between the two games is the most for the Golden Bears in a conference series this season