ROCHESTER, Minn. - Trailing by four runs with just one out left on the 2023 clock, No. 9 seed Concordia-St. Paul (30-28) look to continue its run in the 2023 NSIC Tournament against No. 5 seed St. Cloud State (35-19) at the RYFSA Complex.

After the first two batters were retired on five pitches, Taylor Griffin worked a walk, waking up the Golden Bear bats in time for the top of the order. Clara Heislen followed by pulling a single down the left field line, and they advanced to second and third base on a passed ball. With a 2-0 count, Alexus Houston hit a chopper that SCSU wasn't able to field at short, scoring Griffin, and with a 2-1 count, Grace Beseman lined a dart over the center fielder's head for a 2-run double, pulling CSP within a run with the tying run, pinch runner Rachel Novak, on second base and two outs. The Golden Bears came within just a few feet of tying the game when Jacey Defries lined a shot down the right field line, but it dropped just foul and the Huskies were able to close out the contest two pitches later.

The Golden Bears' strong run in the NSIC Tournament came to a close with a 7-6 loss to St. Cloud State, as the ninth seeded squad from CSP finished the year among the final four teams in the conference tournament field.

The top of the lineup had a productive day at the plate, with Heislen setting the table by reaching base three times in four plate appearances, going 1-2 with two walks and two runs scored. Houston was 2-4 with two runs in front of Beseman, who was 1-4 with two RBIs and her career-best 16th double of the year.

Beseman finished her career a .333 hitter (177-532) with 122 runs, 38 doubles, 30 homers, 118 RBIs, a .397 on base percentage, .573 slugging percentage and 42-47 in stolen base attempts in 169 games.

From the fourth spot, Jacey Defries was 1-4 with an RBI, finishing her career-best year hitting .307 (54-176) with 11 doubles, a triple, five home runs, 35 RBIs, a .388 OBP and .466 slugging percentage. Her two-out RBI single in the first inning gave Concordia its first of two leads in the game, scoring Heislen who walked and stole her 10th bag of the year to start things off. Heislen has swiped at least 10 bags in four-straight years and is 47-57 in her career in 167 games, adding 37 doubles, 31 home runs and a .312/.394/.554 (173-554) slash with 135 runs and 107 RBIs.

In the second inning, Avery Johnson tied the game at two with a leadoff homer, her ninth of the year. After starting the year 3-32 (.094), Johnson got hot and stayed hot the rest of the way. In the final 43 games of the season, Johnson led the team in hitting by 35 points, hitting .373 with power, slugging .667 with eight doubles, a triple and nine home runs while going 47-126 at the plate and stealing nine bases without being caught.

In the third inning and still tied at two, Houston opened the inning with a leadoff single, advanced on a groundout and stole third base, her 14th steal in 15 chances on the season, allowing her to sprint home on a passed ball for CSP's second lead of the day, 3-2.

But the lead was short-lived as the Huskies responded with two runs in the third and two more in the fourth for a 6-3 lead heading to the top of the fifth inning as CSP had nine outs to make up three runs.

And after the Huskies recorded eight outs, the Golden Bears would get their three runs, but the Huskies had picked up a two-out insurance run in the bottom of the sixth inning, getting a hit by pitch and RBI double, which proved to be the difference.

Concordia right hander Bryanna Olson took the loss, falling to 18-17 with a 3.95 ERA on the season. She appeared in 39 games, starting 30 with 19 complete games and three shutouts, adding two saves. She picked up 175 strikeouts in 188 innings. In her four years, she started 74 of her 104 appearances with a 46-31 record, registering 457 strikeouts in 477.1 innings with a 3.34 career ERA with 44 complete games, eight shutouts and eight saves.

She relieved Erica McCullough, who started the game after nearly no-hitting Winona State in game two on Thursday afternoon. McCullough pitched in four games with three starts in the NSIC Tournament, leading the staff with a 3.71 ERA in 11.1 innings while holding batters to a .216 average. She did not factor into the decision against the Huskies and had a 1-0 record in tournament play.

Beseman was named to the NSIC All-Tournament Team after leading CSP with 10 RBIs in five NSIC Tournament games, slugging a pair of doubles and a home run for a .647 slugging percentage.

Johnson was CSP's top hitter in the NSIC Tournament, hitting .538/.625/1.000 (7-13) with six runs, two homers and five RBIs. Defries hit .438/.500/.563 (7-16) with a pair of doubles and Griffin hit .429/.467/.643 with a homer and four RBIs.

In tournament play, Concordia out-slugged the opposition with a .360/.413/.547 slash line while holding opponents to .279/.383/.441, slugging twice as many home runs and stolen bases each by a 6-3 margin and outscoring them 38-22 across five games, a 7.6 to 4.4 average scoring margin.

Concordia's two losses were by just one run each, falling 8-7 to Augustana and 7-6 to St. Cloud State.