Photo Gallery at Auburn
AUBURN, Ala. –
Stephanie Soriano drilled a bases-clearing double and
KK Leddy bounced back from a rough start as North Dakota State bounced back with a 6-1 win over Villanova at the Tiger Invitational played at Jane B. Moore Field on Saturday, Feb. 23. The Bison lost 10-2 in five innings to No. 21-ranked and host Auburn in the first game.
NDSU (6-6) is scheduled to close out tournament play against Eastern Illinois (3-10) at 9 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 24.
North Dakota State exploded for four runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Cara Beatty stroked a RBI single to score Maydson Camacho. Soriano sparked the Bison offense with a bases-loaded double to center.
Villanova (4-5) cut the deficit to 4-1 in the top of the third when Paige Rauch doubled to score Angela Giampolo.
NDSU closed out the scoring in the bottom of the fourth when Camacho laid down a bunt single to score
Katie Shoultz.
Zoe Stavrou laced a RBI single to center to chase home Camacho.
Four players finished with two hits led by Stavrou's double and single.
Sam Koehn, Shoultz and Camacho each had two singles.
Leddy (5-4) bounced back from a rocky start against No. 21-ranked Auburn to record the complete game win. Leddy struck out 12, limited Villanova to four hits and walked one. She reached double-figure strikeouts for the second time this season and third in her career.
Auburn (11-3) bolted out of the gates to score three times in the first inning highlighted by Tannon Snow's two-run single. Snow finished 2-for-3 with four RBI.
NDSU cut the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the second when
Vanessa Anderson connected for her first home run of the season, a two-run shot to left. Beatty led the team with a triple and single.
The Tigers responded with a four-run second frame to pull away.
Auburn outhit the Bison 11-7. Casey McCrackin had a double and single to drive home two runs and also scored twice. Kendall Veach and Brittany Maresette joined Snow with two hits.
Lexie Handley (2-0) struck out four and had no walks to pick up the win.
Leddy,
Paige Vargas and
Kara O'Byrne pitched for NDSU with Leddy taking the loss.