ST. PAUL, Minn. (4/09/07)-- Another doubleheader. Another school record broken. Another conference series split. On Friday against Bethel, Jill Reinert broke the school record for most strikeouts by a pitcher in a single game and Concordia split with the Royals. On Monday against St. Kate's, senior Kellie Niess stole three bases to break the school record for most career stolen bases and the Cobbers had to hold on in the second game to come away with a split against the Wildcats.

Concordia lost the first game of the series against St. Kate's 3-2 in ten innings as Reinert pitched another extra-inning game. CC then took a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh in the second game before coming away with a 3-2 victory. The split evens the Cobbers' MIAC record at 2-2 and pushes their overall mark to 4-10. The Wildcats, who snapped an 11-game losing skid with their win in the opener, move to 5-15 overall and 1-3 in conference play.

Niess set the record in the second game against CSC. After stealing two bases in the first game, she stole second in the first inning of the nightcap to push her career total to 53 which is one better than the old mark of 52 set by Mindy Schirm from 1995-97.

Niess scored the first of the three Concordia runs in the second game as they posted single-run innings in the first, third and fourth frames. St. Kate's made the game interesting in the bottom of the seventh inning. Trailing 3-0, the Wildcats scored twice in the final inning and had the tying run on third base before Concordia relief pitcher Lisa Kott got Kayla Webster to fly out to center field to end the game.

Reinert picked up the win in the second game after failing to earn the victory in the first game despite pitching ten strong innings. Reinert has now pitched 28.1 innings in the past two Concordia conference series. The win in the second game was her fourth of the year as she has recorded all four CC wins on the year.

In the opener, Concordia tied the game in the top of the sixth inn ing at 2-2 and then the two teams played scoreless fastpitch until the bottom of the 10th inning when St. Kate's scored on a one-out single by Morgan Kane. Reinert went 9.1 innings, allowed only one earned run and struck out seven. She has now lowered her season ERA to 5.69 and has 75 strikeouts in 67.2 innings pitched.

Besides Reinert and Kott, freshman Erin Johnson gave Concordia a huge lift in the second game. She entered the game to relieve Reinert in the third inning and proceeded to pitch 4.1 strong innings and allow only one earned run while striking out three.

The two offensive stars for Concordia on the day were seniors Kott and Shantelle Nogowski. Both players had multiple-hit games in both contests. Kott, who earned the save in the second game, went 5-for-9 on the day with one run scored and one RBI. Nogowski was 4-for-8 in the series with a pair of runs scored.

Concordia will now play the waiting game to see if they can play Gustavus on Wednesday, Apr. 11 in the home opener.