ABERDEEN, S.D. - The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (24-6, 6-0 NSIC) rallied to pick up its fifth final-inning comeback victory of the season in a 4-2 victory against MSU Moorhead (16-12, 3-3 NSIC) on Friday afternoon. Freshman Makayla Wigern made her first appearance of her career on the mound picking up the victory throwing two strikeouts and allowing two earned runs. 

The Golden Bears swept the doubleheader winning game one 16-6 after outhitting the Dragons 16-10. The 6-0 NSIC start is the best conference start since the 2021 CSP squad that met that 6-0 mark as well.

Freshman Alexis Monty led Concordia on the day with five hits, four runs scored and two RBIs. Sophomore Riley Rosenthal put up a team-high four RBIs on four hits. Junior catcher Danni Sharum tallied four hits with two RBIs. 

Junior Erica McCullough picked up the win in the first game and tallied her third save of the season in the second game. McCullough pitched 8.0 innings with six total strikeouts. 

The Golden Bears are tied with Minot State in first place in the NSIC standings. Augustana is in third place with a 5-1 conference record. 

Concordia-St. Paul finishes up the weekend on Saturday in a doubleheader against Northern State (15-11, 1-5 NSIC). The Wolves picked up their first conference win of the season on Friday in a 4-1 victory against Winona State (20-12, 4-2 NSIC). First pitch of game one is scheduled for 12 p.m. in the Aberdeen City Dome with the second game to follow. 

Game One

The Golden Bears struck first in the second inning after juniors Avery Johnson and Rachel Novak walked. Monty hit an RBI single to center field. After a passed ball, Rosenthal hit a 2RBI single to give CSP an early 3-0 lead. 

After the Dragons scored a run in the bottom of the third, Concordia responded with four runs in the top of the fourth inning. With the bases loaded, Sharum singled and senior Alexus Houston doubled, putting the Golden Bears up 6-1. Junior Sydney Pelzer added a sacrifice fly to lead 7-1 in the middle of the fourth.

MSU Moorhead responded in the bottom of the inning with four runs on five hits, cutting the lead to 7-5. Rosenthal hit an RBI double in the fifth inning to add a run and extend it to 8-5. 

With runners on first and second in the sixth inning, Johnson hit an RBI single to bring in the ninth run of the game. On the next at-bat, Novak hit a ball deep into center on a tough play for the fielder, who could not bring the ball in. This brought in two more runs for the Golden Bears as Novak reached third. Monty singled to bring in Novak, giving CSP a 12-5 lead.

The Dragons added another run in the bottom of the sixth before Concordia scored four runs on four hits in the seventh. After the first two CSP batters flew out, Sharum walked and Houston singled to start the inning. The Golden Bears scored their 13th run of the contest on a Pelzer ground-rule double. 

Senior Annalise Scamehorn followed Pelzer with a 2RBI single, extending the lead to 15-6. Johnson picked up her second RBI of the game one hit later to lead by 10 runs. McCullough forced three groundouts in the bottom of the seventh to seal the win. 

Six Golden Bear batters picked up two or more RBIs. Rosenthal led the team with three RBIs on two hits. Monty and Sharum each had three hits with Monty scoring three times and putting up two RBIs. 

McCullough pushed her record to 13-2 on the season after pitching all seven innings. She threw five strikeouts throwing 130 total pitches for her highest total of the season.  

Concordia-St. Paul finished with 16 hits compared to 10 for the Dragons. MSU Moorhead had the only error of the game. CSP was walked eight times and MSU Moorhead was walked five times. Both teams left eight runners on base. 

Game Two

Trailing 2-1 throughout most of the contest, Concordia-St. Paul had opportunities with runners in scoring position in the fourth and sixth innings. The Golden Bears finally broke through in the seventh inning. 

Novak started the seventh with a single. After leaving due to an injury earlier in the contest, Monty returned and hit a double, putting Novak on third. Rosenthal then hit the game-tying single to tie the game at 2-2. 

With Monty at third base, Heislen hit a perfect sacrifice bunt to bring her home for the go-ahead run. Houston hit an RBI single later in the inning to extend the lead to 4-2. 

In the bottom of the seventh inning, McCullough relieved Wigern after a single from the first MSU Moorhead batter. McCullough gave up a double after getting the first two outs, but stayed calm getting the last batter to groundout to the shortstop for the victory. 

Rosenthal started the hitting in the first inning with a ground-rule double and senior Clara Heislen singled to get Rosenthal to third base. Sharum brought Rosenthal home with a sacrifice fly to left field, which gave the Golden Bears an early 1-0 lead. 

MSU Moorhead scored its two runs on four hits in the second inning. Wigern limited the damage leaving Dragon runners on second and third after a foul out to end the inning.

Heislen and Rosenthal each had two hits with an RBI. Rosenthal scored twice in the contest. Monty finished with two hits as well. Sharum and Houston each tallied one hit with an RBI. Monty, Rosenthal and Scamehorn each hit a double. 

Wigern picked up her first win of the season in her first appearance. She pitched six innings with two strikeouts. She didn't walk a single batter and gave up two earned runs on six hits. McCullough picked up her third save of the season with one strikeout. 

The Golden Bears outhit the Dragons 11-7 in the contest. Neither team had an error and the Golden Bears picked up the only walk of the game. Concordia-St. Paul left nine runners on base and MSU Moorhead left five runners on base.