MANKATO, Minn. - Minnesota State softball (26-12, 10-2 NSIC) completed its conference season sweep of Concordia-St. Paul (16-21, 8-4 NSIC) on Tuesday afternoon with a pair of close wins. Now the Mavericks sit firmly in second place in the NSIC.

Izzy Hycnar was the hero of the day for the Mavericks. The sophomore shortstop hit two key two-RBI singles during the double-header that secured leads in important moments in each game. In game one, she wiped the bases clean with a two-run single to give MSU a 3-0 lead and later scored in a five-run inning for the Mavericks. In game two, the Golden Bears took a 1-0 lead on a home run, but Hycnar drove in two more RBI to give Minnesota State its first lead of the game, which it kept until the final out. Hycnar now leads the team in RBI this season with 27.

Game 1 vs Concordia-St. Paul: W, MSU 5, CSP 3

W: Brianne Stone (7-4) L: Erica McCullough (2-8)

Last season's NSIC Freshman of the Year, Alexis Monty, led off game one with a single through the left side. An error and a single loaded the bases for the Golden Bears with nobody out. A strikeout from starter Brianne Stone, a force out at home and a fielder's choice at second ended the inning. The Mavericks got out of the first inning jam unscathed.

After a 1-2-3 frame for the Maverick offense, CSP put a runner on base via an error in the infield, but another fielder's choice at second sent the game to the middle of the second. 

Cheyenne Behrends made a nice play at third, catching a sharply hit liner, before a single from Sydney Pelzer put a runner on for the Golden Bears, but a 4-6-3 double play got the second and third out of the third to send it to the bottom half.

The Mavericks had their first baserunners of the game in the bottom of the third, as two consecutive batters were hit by a pitch with two outs. Behrends, after an eight-pitch at-bat, singled to left to score the speedy Marina Carter from second. Hycnar followed up Behrends' hit with a two-RBI single to left to put the team up three.

After another batter was hit by a pitch, Gianna Lara singled through the right side to score another run, and a fourth RBI hit was smacked to right center by freshman Hannah Tong. Through three innings of play, the Mavericks led 5-0. 

Concordia-St. Paul's Rachel Novak led off the top of the fourth with a double off the fence in left, then a single to shallow center and another right back at Stone in the circle loaded the bases with zero outs. A pop-up hit right above home plate was caught by Ryanne Mellum for out one, but a walk scored the first run of the game for the Golden Bears. A fielder's choice forced an out at home, but a single scored another, and led to a pitching change for Minnesota State. Sailor Hall entered the pitcher's circle and struck out the next batter to get out of the inning. MSU led 5-2.

Following a three-up-three-down inning against the Maverick bats, Bryleigh Dana led off the top of the fifth with a home run over the fence in left to cut the Golden Bear deficit to two runs, 5-3. A walk put a runner on for Concordia with one out, and a single to right center put the leading run at the plate. The batter bunted, but while out of the batter's box, was hit by the ball for out number two, then a force out at third ended the inning.

Maddie Helin hit a two-out single to left in the bottom of the fifth, but a groundout secured the third out to move the game to its sixth inning.

The Maverick defense retired the top of the Golden Bear batting order 1-2-3 in the top of six, then Tong brought the count full and walked to lead off the bottom frame for Minnesota State. A sacrifice bunt from Mellum advanced Ireland Broderick, who pinch ran for Tong, to second base with one out. A pop-up later, Carter knifed a single over Monty's glove at third base to put runners on the corners, but a fly out ended the inning. 

The lead off Golden Bear hitter tapped one over Carly Kimmes' glove at second and another single put two on with one out for CSP. Hall struck out her sixth batter, then a grounder hit back to her ended the game, as Minnesota State won 5-3.

No Mavericks had more than one hit. Hycnar's RBI hit drove in two. Behrends, Lara and Tong each had RBI knocks, too. 

Hall allowed one run on four hits in 3.1 innings of relief. She struck out six batters to secure the win. Stone earned her seventh win of 2025 with 3.2 innings of work. 

Game 2 vs Concordia-St. Paul: W, MSU 3, CSP 1

W: Del Vecchio (4-0) L: Tatum Dunlavy (7-6)

After a scoreless top of the first, Kimmes led off the bottom half of the inning with a single through the right side. She stole second on a strikeout pitch, but an infield pop up and a strikeout looking ended the first inning. 

Novak led off the second inning with a single then advanced a bag on a wild pitch. A walk put two on with one down, but Behrends snagged a grounder, got her foot on third for the force out and fired the ball over to first for the double play. 

Lara singled up the middle to lead off the bottom of the second. A walk moved her over to second and a fielder's choice moved the baserunners up a bag. A strikeout ended the MSU scoring threat. The game was scoreless through two innings.

The Golden Bears put their first batter on after she singled to right. A fielder's choice replaced the runner at first, then Monty was caught stealing second by catcher Emma Dennison, who cannoned a perfect throw to Hycnar for the tag. A line out sent game two to the middle of the third.

After a 1-2-3 inning for the Maverick offense in the bottom of the third, two leadoff walks put runners on first and second with nobody out for the Concordia offense. A pair of pop-ups to second base got two outs for the MSU defense and a fielder's choice eliminated the scoring threat. 

Lara doubled to the fence in left center with one out in the bottom of the fourth, but a line out caught pinch runner, Broderick, off the base for a double play to send the game to the fifth inning, still scoreless.

A one-out single up the middle put a runner on for Concordia-St. Paul in the top of the fifth. A fielder's choice got an out, then Monty stole second to get into scoring position, but Behrends made a nice play at third to throw out the following batter to get out number three. 

The Golden Bears retired the Mavericks in order to send game two to its sixth inning. With two outs in the top of the sixth, Novak crushed a ball over the fence in left center for the first run of the game. CSP led 1-0 headed to the middle of the sixth. 

Kimmes and Behrends led off the bottom of six with a pair of singles through the infield to force a Golden Bear pitching change. The baserunners pulled off a double steal to move to second and third, then Hycnar smacked a pitch into right center which scored two to give Minnesota State its first lead of the game, 2-1.

Helin laid down a bunt, but a bad throw from the pitcher got past the Golden Bear first baseman, which moved two Maverick baserunners into scoring position with Lara headed to the plate. She threw her bat out in front of the plate and hit a pitch to left field, which allowed Hycnar to score. Helin got caught in between bases and a pop up ended the inning, but the damage was done. Minnesota State led 3-1 needing just three outs to secure its second win of the day. 

In the top of the seventh, relief pitcher Sophia Del Vecchio earned her first two strikeouts of the day, which bookended a pop out to solidify Minnesota State's sweep of Concordia, 3-1. She improved to 4-0 on the season. Her one run allowed was the home run from Novak in the fifth inning.

Hycnar came up clutch again with the two-RBI single. She now leads the team with 27 RBI this season and improved her batting average to .340. Both Kimmes and Lara had two hit days in the Dome. Lara didn't drive anyone in with either her single nor her double; instead it was a sacrifice fly to get an insurance run on the board in the team's three-run sixth.

"All conference wins are important, but when the race for the title is as close as it is, these feel especially good," said Minnesota State head coach Lori Meyer. "In the first game, it was good to jump out to that five-run lead, but how we responded in the last two innings after giving up a couple runs was key. Our response was important in game two, as well, after the home run with back-to-back hits, then Izzy came up with the big RBI hit, that was huge. CSP is a good hitting team, so I felt we needed an insurance run and we got it."

Minnesota State is scheduled to play Minnesota Crookston (13-22, 1-7 NSIC) on Saturday, April 5 and then Bemidji State (14-18, 1-7 NSIC) on Sunday, April 6. Both double-headers are scheduled to start at noon and 2:00 p.m.