ABERDEEN, S.D. — The Concordia-St. Paul softball team (17-12, 6-0 NSIC) picked up two more wins this afternoon in a doubleheader sweep of Northern State (8-14, 0-6 NSIC) at Koehler Field in Aberdeen. The Golden Bears have now won six games in a row and are off to their best start in conference play since the 2024 season when they won each of their first 14 NSIC games.
Ava Blake led the charge at the plate, racking up four hits in six at bats, all of them of the extra base variety with four doubles across both games, while picking up four RBI. Katie Klotz tallied three hits across seven trips to the plate, driving in two runs.
In the circle, Emmy Bowne grabbed the win in game one improving to 7-6 on the season, tossing 5.0 innings, giving up five hits and one earned run. Abi Carter tossed 2.0 innings of relief, giving up no earned runs and picking up the save.
In game two, Tatum Dunlavy toed the rubber, tossing 6.0 innings, giving up six hits and no earned runs with one strikeout. Carter made her second relief appearance of the afternoon and tossed one shutout inning.
The Golden Bears head to Jamestown, North Dakota tomorrow for a doubleheader against the Jimmies, with first pitch slated for 12 and 2 p.m.
Game One: CSP 3, NSU 2
After a scoreless first inning, the Golden Bears got to work in the top of the second, starting with a Danni Sharum leadoff walk. Sharum later advanced to second on a passed ball, followed by Katie Klotz lining a double to deep centerfield plating Sharum as the game's opening run. Ava Blake followed with an RBI double of her own to put CSP up two in the early going.
Later in the inning, Ashlyn Peterson smacked a two out RBI single through the left side of the infield to give the Golden Bears a 3-0 advantage.
The Wolves got one back in the bottom half of the inning, taking advantage of a pair of CSP errors to cut the deficit to two.
Neither side did much at the plate in the next two frames with just two combined hits. Northern's best chance to tie things up came in the bottom of the fifth when they loaded the bases with just one out, bringing home one run on a groundout to first to make it a 3-2 ballgame.
Emmy Bowne got out of it with the lead still intact though, inducing an inning ending groundout to snuff out the Wolves threat.
Abi Carter came on in relief of Bowne in the sixth looking to preserve the one run lead. Carter got the final six outs without giving up a hit, retiring the Wolves in order in the seventh to earn the save and give the Golden Bears a 3-2 win.
Game Two: CSP 6, NSU 2
The Golden Bears bats got going right away in game two starting with a Alexis Monty leadoff walk. A pair of hit by pitches followed, loading the bases for CSP, Katie Klotz brought home the game's first run and Ava Blake plated the next two on a double to the left-center gap to put the Golden Bear ahead by three.
CSP continued to add on in the second, starting with a Ashlyn Peterson walk later taking second and third, before coming around to score on a Ava Blake RBI single down the right field line to open a 4-0 lead.
In the third the Golden Bears pushed another run across, after a Katie Klotz single and stolen base put her in scoring position. Ava Blake racked up her fourth double and fourth RBI of the day, bringing home Klotz from second and giving CSP a five run cushion.
Northern State finally broke through in the fifth on a two RBI single down the left field line to cut the CSP lead to three.
Monty reached on fielder's choice and swiped second base in the sixth, later coming around to score on a Lily Burke RBI single to center to open up a 6-2 CSP advantage.
In their final turn at the plate Northern led off the inning with a single, Abi Carter came on top pitch and induced a 1-6-3 double play, ending the game with a lineout to Rylie Rasmussen at third base securing the 6-2 win and the doubleheader sweep for CSP.
