Wayne State 4 Concordia- St. Paul 3

            Wayne State senior Hannah Engelkamp had a pinch-hit two-run single in the bottom of the sixth inning to lead the Wildcats past Concordia-St. Paul 4-3 in the first round of the NSIC Softball Tournament in Sioux Falls, South Dakota Thursday afternoon. Katie Goetzinger picked up the win for the 'Cats throwing her 20th complete game of the season improving to 28-6 on the mound. The win moves the Wildcats to 35-13 overall and the loss drops the Golden Bears to 31-20 on the season.

            Both teams struggled to get on base in the opening innings as the Golden Bears recorded only one hit in the first three innings and the Wildcats only reached base on a pair of walks and a hit batter in the first three frames.

            Concordia-St. Paul got on the board in the top of the fourth inning after an RBI single to centerfield by Erin Tjornhom to give the Golden Bears a 1-0 lead. The Wildcats wasted little time tying the game as Samantha Earleywine hit her ninth home run of the season to left field to tie the game at 1-1. Jenifer Radley followed Earleywine's bomb with her 14th home run of the season as the Wildcat's all-time leader in home runs hit a shot to left field to give WSC a 2-1 lead.

            Concordia St. Paul tied it at 2-2 in the top of the fifth inning as the Golden Bears scored on a base loaded walk with two outs in the inning. Goetzinger would get out of the bases loaded jam as the game remained tied at 2-2.

            Wayne State had only two hits on the game going into the sixth inning, but the Wildcats managed three hits in the sixth inning to take a 4-2 lead. The inning was highlight by a pair of singles as Sam Earleywine opened the inning with a base hit followed by a walk by Radley. The two seniors would advance to scoring position on a Blaire Kuhl fielder's choice. Fellow senior Hannah Engelkamp pinch hit for Slone Masters and drove a two-run single to right field to give the 'Cat a 4-2 lead.

            Ashley Kluever led off the top of the seventh inning with a solo home run to cut the WSC lead to 4-3. Goetzinger closed out the inning strong though as the senior struck out two straight and produced a pop up to give the Wildcats the win 4-3 as WSC advances to the winner's bracket semi-finals of the NSIC Tournament. 

            Goetzinger picked up the win for Wayne State as the senior improves to 28-6 on the season, allowing three runs on seven hits with 10 strikeouts.

            The Wayne State offense was paced by Sam Earleywine who was 2 for 3 on the day with a home run and two runs scored. Engelkamp was 1 for 1 on the afternoon with two RBI's. Radley was 1 for 2 with a home run and a run scored.

            Wayne State will be in action again on Friday as WSC will play Minnesota Duluth at 10:00 AM at Sherman Park in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the winner's bracket semi-finals of the NSIC Tournament.