MANKATO, Minn. - The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (2-2) picked up an 8-2 win over Emporia State (0-4) on Saturday morning before losing 8-6 to Upper Iowa (1-2) on Saturday afternoon.
The Golden Bears were led by senior Annalise Scamehorn with four RBIs total in the two games. Senior outfielder Alexus Houston finished with three hits, three RBIs and scored two runs of her own on the weekend. Emmy Bowne picked up her first career victory against Emporia State pitching all seven innings. The freshman pitched nine innings total on Saturday finishing with five strikeouts while giving up six hits, four walks and only three earned runs.
Concordia now has two weeks off before traveling to Emporia, Kansas to compete in the Emporia State Classic. The Golden Bears will play the Hornets twice along with Missouri-St. Louis, Rockhurst (Mo.) and Maryville (Mo.) on Feb. 16-18.
CSP vs Emporia State
The Golden Bears woke up ready to bat on Saturday morning scoring seven runs in the first inning of the day. It started with a one-out two-run double by Houston. The next batter, junior Sydney Pelzer, hit a single into right field to score two more runs.
Junior left fielder Rachel Novak singled, bringing Pelzer home for the fifth run of the game. Freshman Alexis Monty hit in two more runs with a single to left field giving the Golden Bears an early 7-0 lead.
CSP allowed one hit with two strikeouts over the next three innings before the Hornets scored their first run of the game. The Golden Bears then scored their eighth run of the game with an RBI by Scamehorn bringing in Houston after the senior's second double of the day.
Bowne picked up the win for the Golden Bears pitching all seven innings. She struck out five batters while only giving up four hits and two walks. Josie Harrison took the loss for the Hornets after giving up the first seven runs in 0.2 innings pitched. Gracie Rabe pitched the rest of the way for Emporia State after Harrison was pulled.
CSP vs Upper Iowa
After giving up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, the Golden Bears responded with five runs in the top of the second. Scamehorn started off the scoring with a 2RBI single up the middle. After a single by Bryleigh Dana, Novak hit another single with a fielding error by the left fielder to bring in two more runs to give CSP a 4-3 lead. A groundout by Monty brought Novak home for the fifth run.
Upper Iowa responded with three runs to retake a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the third. The Peacocks scored three runs on three hits and an error by the Golden Bears.
CSP tied the game up in the fourth inning with an RBI double from Scamehorn for the last run of the game for CSP. After a double to open the fifth inning, the Golden Bears put in Bowne to pitch taking out Erica McCullough. The freshman battled to get two outs, but Upper Iowa ended up scoring on back-to-back RBIs.
The Golden Bears were unable to score in the sixth and seventh innings. CSP hit into a double play in the sixth inning and went three batters up and three batters down in the seventh inning.
Scamehorn finished with three RBIs on two hits and a double for the Golden Bears. Dana added two hits for Concordia-St. Paul. Novak and Monty had the other two RBIs in the game.
McCullough took the loss to move her record to 1-1 on the season. She gave up five earned runs on eight hits and two walks. The junior tallied three strikeouts on the day. Upper Iowa's Delaney Better took the win pitching all seven innings giving up nine hits with two walks and a strikeout.
