April 20, 2001

Northern State lost 4-3 in a heartbreaking extra-inning nightcap game against Concordia-St. Paul Friday at Manor Park in Aberdeen. NSU (2-19, 0-4 NSIC) dropped the first game in the doubleheader 7-3.

C-SP, coming off two very impressive hard-fought losses to Division I University of Minnesota, had to come up with big plays late to defeat the Wolves in game two. The Wolves held a 2-0 lead going into the top of the seventh inning, but the Golden Bears answered with a two-run outing to force extra play.

Just an inning before, it looked as if the Wolves had thwarted C-SP's comeback attempt, when junior centerfielder Kristen Bottomley (Rapid City) showed her cannon arm by gunning down C-SP baserunner Lisa Harfield at the plate to get the Wolves out of the sixth inning.

But after the Golden Bears knotted the score, their momentum from the seventh inning carried over and the team scored two more runs. In the bottom of the eighth, Bottomley came up big again, driving in sophomore catcher Cyndy Bronte (Oronoco, Minn.) from second base, but it wasn't enough. Bottomley led the team on day at the plate. She ended with eight plate appearances, going a stellar 4-for-6 with two sacrifice bunts.