EMPORIA, Kan. - Alexus Houston hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Concordia-St. Paul softball (5-2) an 11-10 victory against Sioux Falls (5-5) on Monday. Junior catcher Danni Sharum was the hero of the day hitting a three-run homer to tie the game in the seventh inning and a 2RBI double in the eighth inning to tie the game a second time.
Trailing 6-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, freshman Alexis Monty and sophomore Riley Rosenthal each singled. Senior Clara Heislen then hit an RBI single to cut the lead down to three runs. With runners on first and third, Sharum hit the third home run of the day for the Golden Bears to tie the game.
Concordia-St. Paul gave up four runs in the top of the eighth inning off of five hits. Despite having runners on second and third base, junior pitcher Erica McCullough rallied to get two straight strikeouts not allowing any further damage to be done in the inning.
The scoring in the bottom of the eighth started with a single by junior outfielder Avery Johnson, cutting the lead to three runs. After Heislen walked with the bases loaded, Sharum hit a 2RBI double to tie the game at 10-10. In the next at-bat, Houston singled to center field to bring Heislen home for the winning run.
The Golden Bears trailed 6-2 heading into that seventh inning due to leaving six runners on base, which included leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the third inning. Concordia-St. Paul scored its first two runs via solo home runs by Heislen and junior Sydney Pelzer. Heislen's home run was the first of the year for the Golden Bears.
Sioux Falls left 11 runners on base total in the game. A key play occurred in the top of the seventh inning with runners on second and third for the Cougars. Concordia-St. Paul got a double play off a lineout to Pelzer at shortstop, which she then threw to Monty at third base to get the last out of the inning.
McCullough picked up her third win of the season. She threw three strikeouts and gave up three walks in 4.1 innings pitched. Freshman Emmy Bowne started the game, giving up five runs with one strikeout and two walks in 3.2 innings pitched.
Sharum finished with two hits and five RBIs. She did leave five batters on base, but came through late in the game with the double and home run. Heislen finished hitting 4-4 with three RBIs. Monty hit 3-4 on the day scoring twice. Houston finished with two hits and an RBI.
Concordia-St. Paul had 17 hits compared to 14 for the Cougars. The Golden Bears had three errors in the contest and the Cougars only had one.
The Golden Bears will be back in action from March 1-8 for THE Spring Games in Florida. CSP starts the long week by taking on Bridgeport (Conn.) on Friday, March 8 at 8 a.m. That game will be followed by a contest against Goldey-Beacom (Del.) at 10:30 a.m.
