MIAMI, Fla. – Paige Vargas pitched her first collegiate shutout as North Dakota State defeated Illinois State 4-0, while Florida International rallied for a 2-1 win over the Bison on Friday, March 8, at the FAU/FIU Invitational at FIU's Felsberg Field.
 
North Dakota State (10-9) is scheduled to play Notre Dame (9-7) at 12:30 p.m. CT and Purdue (12-6) at 2:45 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 9, at FAU Softball Stadium as the action shifts to Boca Raton.
 
NDSU cranked up the offense in the first inning and scored three runs. Maddie Hansen singled home Vanessa Anderson, Cara Beatty doubled down the left field line to chased Madyson Camacho across the plate, and Stephanie Soriano lifted a sacrifice fly to score Hansen.
 
The Bison added their final run in the bottom of the third. Beatty reached on an error and Hansen scored her second run of the game. Both teams had five hits. Katie Shoultz had two hits for NDSU, while Shannon Felde led Illinois State with two hits.
 
Paige Vargas (4-3) retired the first eight batters she face as the offense built the lead. Vargas struck out three and walked two in the complete game win.
 
Morgan Day (2-6) and Ali Domkuski worked on the mound for Illinois State (5-16) with Day picking up the loss. The pair compiled to strike out four and walked three.
 
North Dakota State jumped out to a 1-0 lead over host Florida International in the top of the fourth. Three straight one-out singles from Beatty, Zoe Stavrou and Soriano loaded the bases. Sam Koehn's ground out to third base pushed Beatty across the plate. Soriano led the Bison with two hits.
 
Florida International (15-6) bounced back with a run in the bottom of the fourth on a Madison Lewis home run with two outs.  Tori Jones reached on an error in the bottom of the fifth and scored on Natalie Orcutt's two-out single to put FIU ahead.
 
KK Leddy (6-6) limited the Panthers to three hits, struck out three and walked four.
 
Megan Kugelmann (5-1) worked the first 5.1 innings to record the win, while Allison Muraskin worked the final 1.2 innings to pick up her second save of the season. The pair combined to strike out five and walk three.