ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (19-14. 5-3 NSIC) continue their packed week of conference games Friday and Saturday in St. Cloud. The Golden Bears take on Minnesota Duluth (21-6, 7-1 NSIC) Friday at 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 at the Husky Dome. St. Cloud State (19-12, 4-2 NSIC) hosts CSP on Saturday with games at noon and 2:00 p.m. 

GAME UPDATE
Concordia softball has announced their home doubleheader against Winona State next week has been moved back from Tuesday, April 11 to Wednesday, April 12 to allow for better field conditions. 

SERIES HISTORY: UMD 40, CSP 27
The Golden Bears and Bulldogs have met 67 times since Concordia joined the NSIC in the 1999-2000 academic year with UMD leading the series by 13 games. Duluth has one four-straight against CSP including a 2-1 win against the Bears earlier this season in non-conference action. 

The Bulldogs are 21-16 against Concordia in neutral site games and have won the last three matchups at neutral locations dating back to 2021. 

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
Minnesota Duluth sits atop the NSIC standings through the beginning of the conference season with a 7-1 record and has the longest active winning streak among NSIC teams with seven in a row. Their only conference loss so far came against St. Cloud State to open NSIC play, 3-1.

The UMD pitching and defense has been the best in the conference this season. The Bulldogs are fourth in the country in team ERA at 1.39, which leads the NSIC. They also lead the league in shutouts with nine. On the offensive side, the Bulldogs 14 triples are the most in the NSIC.

The Duluth pitching staff is led by senior Mady Stariha, who owns the best ERA in the conference and 13th best in the country at 0.99. The Golden Bears have already seen UMD's #2 pitcher Lauren Dixon, who holds the third best conference ERA (1.47) and has the second most strikeouts in the conference (106), right behind CSP's ace Bryanna Olson (111).

SERIES HISTORY: CSP 26, SCSU 23
Concordia-St. Paul holds a three-game lead over the Huskies in CSP's Division II-era with the Huskies capturing the first five matchups between the programs from 2002 to 2004. Last year, CSP's doubleheader sweep of SCSU in April at Carlander Field snapped the Huskies' four game winning streak and a string of 7-1 play by SCSU over CSP from 2016 to 2019, with CSP spinning the series back to its favor with 6-4 and 5-4 wins at home.

The Bears split a non-conference doubleheader with SCSU in March, defeating the Huskies in St. Cloud for the first time since 2018. Concordia is 15-11 all-time against the Huskies in St. Cloud and holds a two game advantage (14-12) in conference matchups.

ABOUT THE HUSKIES
St. Cloud State is led by head coach Mitch Roberts, who is currently in his second year with the program. In his first season, Roberts led the Huskies to a 36-18 record with a 23-7 mark in conference play - establishing a new program record for Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference wins.

The Huskies offense has been dominant so far in 2023. SCSU has seven wins of eight runs or more and lead the NSIC in hits with 250. St. Cloud Ranks third in the conference in batting average (.309), on-base percentage (.401), and fourth in scoring with 5.48 runs per game.