MANKATO, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (26-25, 12-14 NSIC) pulled off the sweep of the University of Mary (7-38, 2-24 NSIC) on Saturday to start the weekend. The Golden Bears took game one 2-0 before defeating the Marauders in game two 8-0 in five innings. 

The Golden Bears and Marauders battled it out in a defensive duel in the first game of their doubleheader. Bryanna Olson (16-14)  threw her NSIC leading 18th complete game with seven innings of work. It was a fantastic outing for the junior, limiting UMary batters to just three hits while striking out 11. Olson moves into the third spot on the K's leaderboard in the conference with a total of 160. 

UMary pitchers also had a great day against the Golden Bears offense, holding CSP to three hits. The Bears made their hits count, with two coming in the fourth inning to score the lone two runs of the game. Avery Johnson got on base with two outs on a throwing error from the Marauder shortstop and moved up to second to give Concordia a runner in scoring position. Annalise Scamehorn came through on the next at bat with an RBI single to break the 0-0 tie. Tori Turgeon entered as a pinch runner and stole second to give CSP another runner in scoring position. Danni Sharum converted the opportunity with a single to left and Turgeon beat the throw home to score the final run of the game. 

The Concordia bats came alive in game two with nine hits in five innings. Clara Heislen started it off with her 12th home run of the season to set the tone for the game. Sydney Pelzer followed it up with a sacrifice fly to score Alexus Houston and break the record for career SAC-flies with 11. Avery Johnson capped off the first inning scoring with a triple to bring in Jacey Defries and give CSP a 3-0 lead.

The Golden Bears took advantage of six walks between the second and third inning to put three more on the board. Houston scored Turgeon in the second with Taylor Griffin and Heislen going back to back singles in the third to boost the CSP lead to six. Concordia finished things off in the fifth, starting with a leadoff home run from Griffin followed by a two put RBI single by Pelzer to walk it off. 

Kristi Pilz got the start in game two and had one her best starts of the year. The junior went five innings, giving up no runs on three hits while striking out four to improve to 3-4 on the season.

With the two wins CSP moves into a tie for the ninth seed with Bemidji State (11-13 NSIC) with two games left. The Bears trail eighth place Sioux Falls (14-13 NSIC) by 1.5 games and have a chance to move up under the right conditions. Southwest Minnesota State (12-16 NSIC) trails BSU and Concordia by a game. Concordia can clinch a playoff spot on Sunday with a win in one of their doubleheader games with Minot State.