EMPORIA, Kan. - The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (4-2) picked up a pair of victories in its opening day at the Emporia State Classic. The Golden Bears beat Maryville (Mo.) (1-5) by a score of 8-2 and then picked up a 12-2 early afternoon win against Missouri-St. Louis (2-1).

Freshman Alexis Monty led the charge for the Golden Bears on the day tallying five hits, two doubles and four RBIs. Sophomore Riley Rosenthal finished the day with a team-high five RBIs on four hits and two doubles. Freshman Emmy Bowne and junior Erica McCullough each picked up their second wins of the season from the mound. 

The Golden Bears will be back in action on Monday, Feb. 19 against Sioux Falls to finish the Emporia State Classic. First pitch is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. on Thomas Field. 

CSP vs Maryville

CSP started off the scoring in the second inning with an RBI single from senior Annalise Scamehorn. She was followed up by an RBI from Bryleigh Dana who reached on a fielder's choice to take a 2-0 early lead. 

Concordia-St. Paul scored three runs in the fourth inning. It started with an RBI single from Monty to score the third run. On the next at-bat, Rosenthal hit a 2RBI single to give the Golden Bears a 5-1 lead. 

The Golden Bears scored two more runs in the fifth to extend their lead to 7-1. Scamehorn and Dana each hit an RBI sacrifice fly in the inning. Concordia-St. Paul scored its final run off of another sacrifice fly in the sixth inning. 

Bowne pitched all seven innings throwing four strikeouts. She only walked three batters and gave up six hits. The freshman is now 2-1 on the season. 

The Golden Bears finished with eight hits as a team. Monty tallied two hits and an RBI as she was the only Golden Bear to record a double in the game. Scamehorn recorded two hits and two RBIs. Rosenthal finished with three RBIs and one hit. Maryville left nine runners on base compared to six for Concordia. 

CSP vs Missouri-St. Louis

After scoring one run in the opening inning off a double from Rosenthal, the Golden Bears exploded with a seven-run two-out rally in the second inning. Scamehorn started the run with a double to get herself into scoring position. A few batters later, Monty hit a 2RBI double to right center to give CSP a 3-0 early advantage.  

On the next at-bat, Rosenthal doubled to bring Monty in for the score. After two walks, senior Alexus Houston singled to left field, bringing in another run. Junior Sydney Pelzer then hit a 2RBI single which brought in three runs off of an error to give CSP an 8-0 lead. 

After the Tritons scored two runs in the fourth inning, CSP responded with four runs in the fifth inning. It started with a triple by junior Rachel Novak and then a single from Monty to bring Novak in. 

With the bases loaded, Houston walked to bring in the 10th run of the game. Sophomore Tori Turgeon singled to bring in two more runs for the Golden Bears. Missouri-St. Louis went three-up three-down in the bottom of the fifth to finish the game. 

The Golden Bears had 13 hits in the contest compared to three hits for the Tritons. CSP had 28 at-bats compared to 17 at-bats for Missouri-St. Louis. Monty finished with three hits in four at-bats with three RBIs. Rosenthal tallied three hits with two doubles and two RBIs. 

McCullough improved her record to 2-1 on the season only giving up three hits and striking out one batter. She walked only two batters in the game.