ROCHESTER, Minn.- Concordia St. Paul (28-26, 13-15 NSIC) softball kicked off the 2023 NSIC Championship with a 5-4 victory over the Sioux Falls Cougars (24-25, 15-14 NSIC) on Wednesday at RYFSA Complex.
 
The Golden Bears will face #1 seed Augustana in round two of the tournament with an estimated start time of 3:00 p.m. at the RYFSA Complex.
 
GAME ONE: CSP 5, USF 4
CSP and Sioux traded blows in a back-and-forth, momentum-filled contest that saw both teams notch seven hits apiece. The Golden Bears used a three-run sixth inning to take the final lead of the game to claim the 5-4 victory.
 
Grace Beseman and Sydney Pelzer played pivotal roles in the victory with a home run each, while Clara Heislen recorded a multi-hit game and extended her hitting streak to 11 games.
 
Bryanna Olson (17-15) was the lone Golden Bear to appear in the circle. The junior recorded five strikeouts in 7.0 innings, allowing seven hits and one earned run in the winning decision.
 
In the opening inning, Beseman started her final NSIC Tournament with a bang, blasting her ninth home run of the season over the center field fence to give the Golden Bears the lead run of the game. 
 
The Cougars tied it up in the bottom of the second on an RBI double and threatened more runs with two runners in scoring position with no outs, but Olson struck out the next two batters before inducing a pop fly to end the inning.
 
Concordia took advantage of USF miscues in the third to take back the lead. With one out, Heislen and Alexus Houston singled to set up CSP with runners on first and second. Later in the inning, the Cougars' second baseman mishandled a hit from Jacey Defries that allowed Heislen to score and put the Bears back in front, 2-1.
 
An error from the Golden Bears in the fifth gave Sioux Falls new life in the game as the Cougars capitalized on the error and later in the inning used a 2-RBI double to score a pair of unearned runs to go back up front, 3-2.
 
However, CSP did not trail for long, as they were able to score three runs off three hits in the next half innings, which was highlighted by a solo home run from Pelzer that tied the game at three, followed by back-to-back RBI singles from Taylor Griffin and Heislen to put CSP back in front, 5-3.
 
USF cut the lead with an RBI single in the sixth and had a chance in the bottom of the seventh with the tying run of first and the lead run at the plate. However, with two outs, Beseman made the defensive play of the game with a diving grab to secure the 5-4 win for the navy and gold.