WEST ST. Paul, Minn. – In two dramatic games at Concordia University-St. Paul, the Bemidji State University softball team snapped an eight-game losing streak by splitting its Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference doubleheader Friday afternoon. 

Down two runs in the seventh inning of game one, the Beavers rallied to score five runs in the top of the seventh to earn a 5-3 victory over the Golden Bears. Bemidji State tied the game at 2-2 after scoring two runs off a wild pitch and then freshman Mariah Stevenson blasted a three-run home run, the first of her career, to give the Beavers the 5-2 lead.

Sophomore Stella Dolan pitched all seven innings in the game including holding the Golden Bears to just one run in the bottom of the seventh to earn her fourth victory of the season. She allowed seven total hits in the game and three runs while earning six strikeouts to improve to 4-11 on the season.

Stevenson led the Beavers at the plate with the three RBI's and finished the game 1-for-3. BSU totaled just three hits in the game despite earning the victory.

The Beavers were on the wrong end of dramatic play in game two in a game that went to the 13^th inning. Down 3-2 in the top of the seventh, junior Ashley Herold laid down a sacrifice bunt to tie the game. Each team would fail to produce the go-ahead run for the next five innings, when Clara Heislen hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the 13^th for the Golden Bears.

Bemidji State totaled 12 hits in the game, one shy of a season high, including a career-high four hits from freshman Alexa Christenson. She led the Beavers by batting 4-for-6 with a run scored while Stevenson followed by batting 3-for-5 with a double and a run scored. Herold paced the team by driving in two runs to bring her season total to nine. 

Senior Kaidron McClafferty started the game in the circle and pitched five innings and allowed two unearned runs off seven hits. She was replaced by sophomore Kyla Damerow who pitched one inning and allowed one run off two hits. Dolan then came into pitch and lasted the remaining 6.2 innings. She earns the loss and falls to 4-12 this season after allowing two runs off four hits while striking out four. 

The Beavers are now 8-26 on the season and are 5-9 in NSIC play.

BSU will travel to Mankato, Minn., now and take on No. 20 Minnesota State University, Mankato at the Mavericks All-Sports Dome tomorrow morning. 

Nestled in Northern Minnesota's wooded region and located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, Bemidji State University sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men's and women's hockey membership in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).

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