CLEARWATER, Fla. – North Dakota State rallied from an early deficit and then held off Eastern Illinois late during a 7-5 victory in a single-game played Thursday, March 14, at the Eddie C. Moore Softball Complex.
 
NDSU (13-11) is scheduled to play Towson (9-7) at 3:45 p.m. CT, and Wichita State (17-5) at 6:15 p.m. CT on Friday, March 15, in the USF-Michelle Smith Pediatric Cancer Spring Invitational at the Eddie C. Moore Softball Complex.
 
Eastern Illinois (7-18) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on Haley Mitchell's two-run home run with two outs. Mitchell finished the game 3-for-3 at the plate.
 
North Dakota State came back with three runs in the bottom of the third. Madyson Camacho started with a run-scoring single, Zoe Stavrou hit a sacrifice fly and Maddie Hansen delivered a RBI single.
 
The Panthers came back to knot things up 3-3 on Kendyl McKeough's RBI single.
 
NDSU put together a pair of two-run innings in the fourth and the fifth. Shoultz and Camacho had key hits in the fourth, while Cara Beatty and Sam Koehn each delivered run-scoring singles in the fifth to put the Bison ahead 7-3.
 
Eastern Illinois didn't go away, cutting deficit to 7-5 in the top of the sixth. McKeough claimed her second hit and RBI, and the Panthers cashed in on a NDSU error.
 
KK Leddy (8-6) went the distance to claim the win. Leddy struck out five and walked one. EIU used three pitchers with McKenna Coffman (1-7) taking the loss. The trio combined to walk one and strike out one.
 
North Dakota State held a 10-7 advantage in hits led by Hansen's 3-for-3 effort at the plate that included a double. Koehn and DeCamp each had two hits.