STANFORD, Calif. – KK Leddy tossed her second shutout of the season as North Dakota State defeated Cal Poly 8-0, then Paige Vargas and Leddy combined to allow four hits as the Bison beat Montana 5-2 on the opening day of the Stanford Nike Invitational at Smith Family Stadium. NDSU has won four in a row.
 
North Dakota State (9-6) is scheduled to play No. 23-ranked Northwestern (12-3) at 4:30 p.m. CT and host Stanford (11-2) at 9 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 2.
 
NDSU rallied back from a two-run deficit with three runs in the bottom of the third inning. Katie Shoultz led off with an infield single, stole second and scored on Madyson Camacho's double. Cara Beatty reached on an error and Maddie Hansen laced her second double of the game, a two-out shot to right center to drive in Camacho and Beatty.
 
The Bison tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Shoultz sent home Sam Koehn on a two-out infield single, while Shoultz scored on Montana DeCamp's RBI single to left. Hansen and Shoultz led the Bison with two hits.
 
Vargas (3-2) and Leddy combined to limit Montana (3-13) to four hits. Vargas struck out five and walked two in the first five, while Leddy struck out three in two innings of relief to pick up her first career save.
 
Colleen Driscoll (2-3) and Tristin Achenbach pitched for Montana with Driscoll taking the loss. The pair combined to strike out three and issue no walks. Cami Sellers led the Grizzlies with two hits including a two-run single in the top of the third.
 
In the first game, North Dakota State took a 1-0 lead over Cal Poly in the first when Koehn reached on an error and Camacho scored. Hansen extended the lead to 3-0 in the third when she hit a two-run home run to left, her team-leading fifth of the season.
 
NDSU struck three times in the top of the fourth to make it 6-0. DeCamp delivered a RBI single to left and Zoe Stavrou's ground out in the hole at second sent a pair of runners home. Shoultz closed the scoring with a run-scoring single through the right side. DeCamp and Shoultz each had two hits.
 
Leddy (6-4) scattered three hits, walked three and struck out six to complete her ninth career shutout. Leddy was helped out by a Stavrou to Vanessa Anderson double play in the fourth, the first DP of the season for the Bison.
 
Cal Poly (3-12) used Steffi Best (1-8), Shelby Jeffries and Dakota Casper on the mound with Best taking the loss. The trio combined to walk eight and strike out five. Crimson Kaiser had two of the Mustangs' three hits.