ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota State softball (32-10, 12-4 NSIC) loses two road games against Concordia-St. Paul (32-6, 14-0 NSIC) on Wednesday. The Golden Bears extend their winning streak to 14 games and solidify themselves as the top team in the NSIC, holding a perfect conference record. MSU fell in game one 5-4 despite home runs from Cheyenne Behrends and Gianna Lara and in game two, the team lost 10-6. Freshmen Izzy Hycnar and Maddie Helin homered in the second loss, but it wasn't enough to put the Mavericks over the hump against the Golden Bears.
 
Game 1 vs Concordia-St. Paul: Concordia-St. Paul 5, Minnesota State 4
W: McCullough (19-2) L: Armbruster (14-5)
The first hit of game one was a solo home run from Mavericks third baseman Cheyenne Behrends in the top of the second. It was her third home run of the year, the 13^th of her career.
 
The Golden Bears would get on the board in the bottom of the third. With runners on first and second, Clara Heislen hit an RBI double to tie the game. Catcher Danni Sharum hit her xth home run of 2024 to put Concordia up 4-1.
 
In the top of the fourth, Kylie Sullivan led off the inning with a double to right center. Gianna Lara hit her team-leading sixth home run of the season, the seventh of her career, to make it a one run deficit, 4-3, Concordia-St. Paul.
 
A two-out single to centerfield scored the Golden Bears' fifth run of the game, going up 5-3 in the bottom of the fifth. Despite loading the bases, McKayla Armbruster and the Mavericks defense held CSP to one run in the inning.
 
Two freshman pinch-hitters in the top of the sixth led to a run for MSU. Izzy Hycnar hit a double to left field and Maddie Helin singled up the middle to score her from second, making the score 5-4, in favor of the Bears.
 
Ellie Tallman, despite reaching via a bunt single, was thrown out by Sharum for the final out of the game, giving Concordia a 5-4 victory.
 
Lara and Tallman both went 2-3 in the loss. Lara drove in two RBI with her home run. Behrends and Helin had the other two team RBI.
 
Armbruster pitched six innings, allowed seven hits and five runs. She struck out four and walked an uncharacteristic four batters.
 
 
Game 2 vs Concordia-St. Paul: Concordia-St. Paul 10, Minnesota State 6
W: Wigern (3-0) L: Oetzmann (16-2)
Minnesota State got on the board first in the opening half-inning. After loading the bases thanks to a walk and two throwing errors, Tallman was caught attempting to score. Lara was hit by a pitch, loading the bases again and Hycnar walked to score the first run of the game. Behrends hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield to score Sullivan from third, putting MSU up 2-0.
 
The Golden Bears took back the lead in the bottom half of the inning, starting with an Alexis Monty leadoff double. She scoring on an RBI single through the right side hit by Riley Rosenthal. Rosenthal would tie the game, scoring on a sacrifice fly from Sydney Pelzer. Annalise Scamehorn singled to centerfield to give the Bears the lead. Concordia would establish its lead with a three-run home run from Avery Johnson, putting the team up 6-2 on the Mavericks.
 
Another home run, this time hit by Clara Heislen, put the Golden Bears up 8-2 in the bottom of the second.
 
In the top of the fourth, Hycnar led off with a single to center and Behrends walked. Helin hit her third home run of the season to cut back into the CSP lead, bringing the score to 8-5.
 
Hycnar would hit a two-out home run to centerfield in the top of the fifth, the first of her career at MSU. The score was 8-6.
 
The Golden Bears added two to its lead in the bottom of the sixth, with an RBI double from Heislen and an RBI single form Sharum. Minnesota State lost game two, 10-6.
 
Hycnar went 2-3 with 2 RBI with her home run, the third multi-hit and first multi-RBI game of her career. Helin hit her third homer of the season and drove in 3 RBI.
 
Sophia Del Vecchio who entered in the second inning, pitched 4.1 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. No Mavericks had a strikeout in game two.
 
"Giving up big innings of three-plus runs hurt us in both games, many of those runs coming with two outs," said Mavericks head coach Lori Meyer. "Four hits in game two isn't going to win many ballgames. We have to get better. Kudos to CSP, they got it done today. Our schedule doesn't get any easier."
 
Minnesota State will travel to St. Cloud, Minnesota to take on the Huskies (23-17, 6-8 NSIC) on Saturday, April 13. The Mavericks will play St. Cloud State at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday. MSU is 84-61 all-time against the Huskies.