MANKATO, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (27-26, 13-15 NSIC) split their double header with Minot State (29-21, 16-12 NSIC) on Senior Day.The Beavers took game one on Sunday with a 9-1 sic-inning win, but the Bears came back in game two to defeat Minot 5-3.
The Golden Bears honored seniors
Grace Beseman,
Jacey Defries, and
Bryanna Olson.
Olson has appeared in 100 games as a Golden Bear, holding a career 44-29 record with eight saves while making 72 starts, adding eight career shutouts and 3.32 career ERA across 459.1 innings with 446 strikeouts. She's among the top pitchers in program history, ranking fourth in career strikeouts, sixth in wins, third in saves, seventh in lowest opponent batting average and eighth in innings pitched.
Defries started 102 games over the last two seasons and played in 134 career contests at Concordia, picking up 89 career hits, 16 doubles and
nine home runs. She's having her top season as a senior, with career highs in runs, hits,doubles, home runs, RBIs and walks.
Beseman has been an All-Conference third baseman during her time as a Golden Bear and is a .332 career hitter with a .398 on base percentage and .571 slugging percentage. The four year starter has played and started 164 games, racking up 118 runs, 171 hits, 36 doubles, 29 home runs, 108 RBIs and 42 stolen bases. She's among the top hitters in program history, ranking second in career slugging percentage, fourth in home runs, seventh in doubles and 10th in on-base percentage, RBIs and steals.
Annalise Scamehorn was recognized for her dedication, leadership, work ethic, and perseverance with the Frankie Munkwits Award. It was the second year in a row she has been honored with the award sharing it with
Emma Lero in 2022.
With the win, CSP locked up the nine seed for the NSIC Conference Tournament and will take on Sioux Falls on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. The Concordia softball team edged out Bemidji State for the nine seed, forcing the Beavers back to 10. BSU will take on seven seeded Minot State in the other opening round game on Wednesday.
The Golden Bears did not get off to the start they wanted in game one, getting just one hit over the first three innings. The Beavers struck first in the top of the second with an RBI double. Bryanna Olson struck out the final two batters in the inning to hold Minot to one. They came back in the third with two more, getting a leadoff single and home run to extend their lead to 3-0.
Grace Beseman got Concordia on the board with a solo home run in fourth for her eighth long ball of the season. Kristi Pilz came on in relief in the fourth and held the Beavers scoreless over the next two innings.
The fifth innings would be Pilz and CSP's undoing as the junior would give up five walks, four hits, and six runs to give Minot State an eight run lead, 9-1. The first three Golden Bear batters would reach safely in the bottom of the inning, but a fielder's choice and ground ball double play would end the inning and the game.
Olson (16-15) took the loss with three innings pitched, giving up three runs on five hits with two strikeouts. Pilz also finished with three innings pitched and five hits, but her seven walks would lead to six runs for the Beavers and the eventual run-rule loss.
The CSP offense came alive in game two, out-hitting the Beavers 9-8. The Golden Bears put runners across in four of the seven innings while limiting Minot scoring to a single frame. Erica McCullough got the start in the second game of the double header and went five solid innings, giving up three runs on eight innings while striking out two. The lefty got the win to improve to 8-7 on the season.
The Bears put runners on first and third in the bottom of the third with one out to set up Jacey Defries up for the first RBI of the game. The senior came through with a sharp hit down the right field line to score Alexus Houston. Beseman and Defries pulled off a double steal to put two runners in scoring position. Sydney Pelzer laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners and pick up an RBI and Taylor Griffin followed it up with an RBI single to give Concordia a 3-0 lead.
The Beavers came right back with three runs of their own in the fourth inning. After two hits to start the inning, Minot took advantage of a CSP error and a couple more key hits to bring two more home and tie things up, 3-3. McCullough rebounded in the fifth to shut down the Beavers to give the Bears a chance to take the lead.
Jacey Defries started the bottom of the fifth inning off with a single with Tori Turgeon entering the game as a pinch runner. Turgeon set herself up in scoring position with a steal and made it around to break the tie on a hard hit RBI single by Sydney Pelzer. Concordia added one more in the bottom of the sixth. Danni Sharum pinch hit for a single and Rachel Novak re-entered to run the bases. Clara Hesilen came up next and took the next ball to the fence in left to bring Novak in from second and give CSP a 5-3 lead.
Bryanna came in to relieve McCullough in the sixth and picked up her second save of the season, going two scoreless innings while holding the Beavers to no hits and no walks while striking out two.
UP NEXT
The Golden Bears take on the Sioux Falls Cougars to open the NSIC Tournament on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. A win will put them in a matchup with the #2 seed Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs at 2:00 p.m. A loss will put them in the losers bracket with their second game starting at 4:00 p.m.
