St. Paul, Minn. --- The #18 Minnesota State softball team handed the Concordia-St. Paul Golden Bears a pair of losses in St. Paul, Minn., Thursday, a 6-0 win and a 7-4 win for the Mavericks. With the results, Minnesota State improves to 19-6 (8-4 NSIC) on the season while the Golden Bears drop to 13-13 (7-5NSIC)

Game 1

Mackenzie Ward (11-3) started the game for the Mavericks and earned the win pitching a complete game shutout striking out 17 of 24 batters faced and allowing only two hits. Aryka Knoche (3-2) started for the Golden Bears and took the loss allowing six runs on 11 hits.
 
Sydney Nielsen put the Mavericks on the board in the top of the first inning when she absolutely crushed a no doubt solo homerun to dead center field.
 
In the fourth inning, the Mavericks added a pair of runs when Madi Newman scorched a single into right field that scored Torey Richards and Torey Richards.
 
Minnesota State ended the scoring in the sixth inning when Sydney Nelson blasted a three-run homer to score Newman and Kacy Nickerson, putting the Mavericks up by the final score of 6-0.
 
Newman finished the game 2-3 with two RBI while Nielsen, Richards and McCarville all went 2-4. Nelson went 1-3 with three RBI on her sixth inning homer.
 
Game 2

McKayla Armbruster (8-2) started for Minnesota State and earned the win after she pitched four and a third innings allowing four earned runs while striking out three batters. Katie Bracken finished the game for the Mavericks earning a save, her first of the year, on two and two-thirds innings pitched in which she allowed only two hits. Bryanna Olson (5-5) started for the Golden Bears and took the loss after pitching a single inning allowing six runs on five hits.
 
In the top of the first inning, Hailey Forshee hit an RBI single through the right side before Newman brought a second run home with a single through the center of the defense.
 
With the bases loaded and two out, Nelson hit a grand slam to center field, her second homer of the day and fourth on the season.
 
The Golden Bears managed to put together three runs in the fourth inning, before adding a solo homer in the fifth, cutting the Maverick lead to 6-4.
 
Minnesota State added an insurance run in the sixth inning when Richards hit a sac fly that scored Esselman from third base.
 
Forshee finished the game hitting 3-4 from the plate while Richards finished 2-3 and Newman finished 2-4. Nelson finished the game 1-3 with all four RBI coming from her first inning grand slam.
 
Up Next:

The Mavericks return to action Saturday with a home doubleheader against St. Cloud State with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. before they host Minnesota Duluth Sunday with a pair of games scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m.