FARGO, N.D. – Zoe Stavrou and Tabby Heinz each hit home runs as top-seed North Dakota State defeated Omaha 9-0 in five innings to advance in the Summit League tournament played Thursday, May 10, before 271 spectators at the Ellig Sports Complex.
 
NDSU (31-17) is scheduled to play No. 2-seed South Dakota State (33-14) at 1 p.m. Friday, May 11. The NDSU-SDSU winner advances to Saturday's Summit League championship game, while loser plays No. 5-seed Omaha (20-30) at 3:30 p.m. Friday in a loser out game.
 
Stavrou, a junior second baseman from Homeland, Calif., led off the bottom half of the first inning with a home run to right center field on the first pitch. It was Stavrou's third home run of the season.
 
The Bison went on to build a 3-0 lead as Vanessa Anderson laced her first of two doubles to the base of the left field fence to score Madyson Camacho. Anderson scored on Stephanie Soriano's two-out RBI single to right.
 
NDSU extended the lead to 4-0 in the third inning as Anderson doubled to left and Soriano delivered a two-out double to left center. Stavrou, Anderson and Soriano each finished with two hits.
 
North Dakota State close out the scoring with a five-run fourth frame. Stavrou doubled to right center to chase Katie Shoultz home from first base. Bre Beatty lined a sacrifice fly to left to plate Stavrou. Heinz drilled a three-run to right center to score Morgan Milbrath and Camacho to make it 9-0.
 
Jacquelyn Sertic (23-9) scattered six hits in recording her 11^th shutout of the season. Sertic struck out nine and walked one on 78 pitches including 56 strikes in the five-inning stint.
 
Sydney Hampton (11-13) and Roecker pitched for Omaha with Hampton picking up the loss. Roecker struck out four and walked three in three innings of relief. Aubrey Hacke went 3-for-3 to pace Mavericks offense.
 
South Dakota State advanced with an 8-0 win in six innings over Fort Wayne (19-35). Omaha exploded for an 11-1 win in five innings to eliminate the Mastodons.