ST. PAUL -- The Bemidji State softball team fell under .500 for the first time this season after Concordia-St. Paul swept the Beavers in a Friday doubleheader at St. Paul.
The Golden Bears used a hot start and a late surge in game one for a 13-5 win before outlasting BSU 11-10 in a 12-inning game two.
Though BSU (22-24, 5-17 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference) went ahead 1-0 after a half inning of action, CSP (24-18, 11-11 NSIC) answered back with four runs in the bottom of the first. They tacked on two more runs in the second before exploding for six in the fifth.
Brooke Phillips, Olivia Tucker and Makayla Pagel all hit home runs in the contest, but the deficit was ultimately too much to overcome in the loss.
Starting pitcher Stephi Dullum took the loss in the circle after surrendering six runs on eight hits over 1 1/3 innings.
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In game two, the Beaver bats kept up with Concordia-St. Paul. Elaina Christiansen hit a two-run homer in the first, and Phillips hit another out of the park in the fourth. And even though the Golden Bears still built a 7-3 lead through four, Bemidji State battled back.
Jess Burlingame homered in the fifth to make it a 7-5 ballgame, and BSU went up 8-7 an inning later when Tucker singled in Samantha Edlund.
CSP put up three runs in the bottom of the sixth, but a two-run shot from Pagel leveled the score once more at 10-10 through seven.
The next four innings went scoreless, but the Golden Bears finally broke through with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 12th.
Despite the loss, Burlingame recorded her 63rd hit of the season with her home run, which breaks her own single-season program record of 62, set in 2016.
BSU is fighting through a current 10-game losing streak. The Beavers will try to snap out of it at noon on Saturday, April 20, in a doubleheader against Minnesota State in Mankato.
Concordia-St. Paul 13, Bemidji State 5
BSU 100 130 -- 5-5-1
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CSP 420 051 -- 13-16-1
WP: Kaestner (CG, 6 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K)
LP: St. Dullum (1.1 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 0 K)
Concordia-St. Paul 11, Bemidji State 10
BSU 200 123 200 000 -- 10-13-2
CSP 103 303 000 001 -- 11-17-2
WP: Kaestner (7 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 K)
LP: McClafferty (8.1 IP, 14 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 7 K)
