BISMARCK, N.D. - Alexis Monty went 6-6 batting for the Concordia-St. Paul softball team (34-8, 16-2 NSIC) in its doubleheader sweep against UMary (7-31, 0-16 NSIC) on Sunday. The freshman tallied six hits, two walks, two doubles and a home run in 12 innings played. 

The Golden Bears defeated the Marauders 8-0 in five innings in the first game. Monty led CSP with a 3RBI homer in the game. Concordia emerged victorious in game two by a score of 4-1. Monty hit a double and sophomore Riley Rosenthal hit a triple to lead the Golden Bears in that contest.  

Senior Alexus Houston tallied three hits with a home run and two RBIs for the Golden Bears. Rosenthal hit a double and a triple with two RBIs. Junior Sydney Pelzer and senior Annalise Scamehorn each put up two hits on the day.

Junior pitcher Erica McCullough threw all 12 innings for the Golden Bears on the day putting up a 0.58 ERA. She gave up 12 hits, one walk and one earned run on the day. The lefty tallied five strikeouts combined in both contests.

McCullough now has 21 wins on the season, which is fourth in program history. Kristen Schmidt owns the top three places. McCullough is one win away from Schmidt's 22 in third place. Schmidt had a program-best 27 wins in both the 2005 and 2006 seasons. 

Monty bumped her season batting average up to .535 and her season slugging percentage up to .736. The freshman is now tied for fifth in hits in a season in school history with 77. She's got the second-most doubles in a season in school history with 19. The most is 20 by Amanda Yurek in 2006. 

The Golden Bears remain in second place in NSIC play after Augustana (34-13, 19-1 NSIC) swept Minnesota Crookston on Sunday by a combined score of 33-4. Minnesota State (35-11, 15-5 NSIC) and Minot State (18-12, 13-5 NSIC) remain behind Concordia-St. Paul in the conference standings. 

Concordia-St. Paul is back in action next weekend against Southwest Minnesota State (17-26, 8-12 NSIC) on Saturday and Augustana on Sunday. Both doubleheaders are scheduled for 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. at Carlander Field on CSP's campus. 

Game One

Concordia scored the opening run of the game in the first inning. After Monty walked and stole second, Houston hit an RBI single to bring the freshman home for the first run of the day. 

In the second inning, Scamehorn and Rachel Novak both singled which led to Monty's 3RBI home run giving the Golden Bears a 4-0 early advantage. This was Monty's second home run of the season. Her first home run came on March 1 against Bridgeport (Conn.). 

Freshman Bryleigh Dana reached on an error and Monty singled settting up a sacrifice fly by Rosenthal to score the fifth run of the game in the fourth inning. Houston started the sixth inning with a bang, hitting a home run to lead 6-0. Houston is now tied for the team lead in home runs with five on the season. 

Pelzer and Scamehorn followed Houston hitting singles. Novak brought in the seventh run with a sacrifice fly and Monty brought in the eighth run with an RBI double. The Golden Bears ended the game in the fifth inning after getting the third out with two runners on base. 

Monty led CSP with three hits, four RBIs and two runs scored. Houston tallied three hits with two RBIs and a run scored. Scamehorn had two hits while Novak and Rosenthal each had a hit with an RBI. 

McCullough pitched 5.0 innings and allowed two hits. She threw four strikeouts and only walked one batter on a hit-by-pitch. The junior got quick outs in the contest as she threw 44 pitches total.  

CSP outhit UMary 11-2 and the Marauders committed the only two errors in the game. Concordia-St. Paul left six runners on base compared to three for UMary. 

Game Two

UMary started the game with their only run of the day in the bottom of the first inning. The Golden Bears came alive in the third inning after Novak reached on an error by the Marauders. Monty brought Novak in with an RBI single to center field, tying the game at 1-1.

After Monty stole third, senior Clara Heislen brought her home with a single bunt. Junior Danni Sharum singled advancing Heislen, and Pelzer brought the senior center fielder home with an RBI single. Concordia-St. Paul led 3-1 after the third inning. 

After two scoreless innings, Concordia got its fourth run of the game in the sixth. After a Monty single, Rosenthal brought the freshman home with an RBI triple to lead 4-1. 

McCullough got out of a bases-loaded situation in the sixth inning, getting the last out on a popup to Dana at the catcher position. The Golden Bears got the last three outs in the seventh inning via a groundout, strikeout and a flyout. 

Monty tallied three hits with an RBI and scored twice. Rosenthal finished with the RBI triple. Heislen, Sharum and Pelzer had the only other hits for CSP in the second game. 

McCullough pitched 7.0 innings giving up 10 hits and one earned run. She only walked one batter and threw one strikeout. 

Both teams left eight runners on base and each team had an error. The Golden Bears were outhit 10-7, but reached on three walks compared to one for the Marauders. UMary didn't have a hit greater than a single.