COLUMBIA, S.C. – Cara Beatty went 3 for 3 with two-run double and Paige Vargas was solid in relief as North Dakota State defeated Southern Illinois 5-2 in the final game of the Carolina Classic at Carolina Softball Stadium on Sunday, Feb. 9.
 
NDSU (1-3) opens against Southeastern Louisiana (4-0) in the Florida Bubly Invitational at 8 a.m. Central Time on Friday, Feb. 14.
 
Dez Cardenas singled to left center to score Madyson Camacho to put the Bison ahead 1-0. Southern Illinois (0-3) answered with Megan Brown's sacrifice fly to tie the game.
 
Sam Koehn doubled to right center to send Beatty home to put NDSU on top 2-1 in the fourth. Beatty then laced a 3-1 pitch to right field for a two-run double to knock in Montana DeCamp and Cardenas to extend the lead to 4-1 in the fifth. Koehn closed out the scoring with an infield single to score Kara Diaz.
 
Southern Illinois cut the deficit to 5-2 in the seventh with a Maddy Vermejan RBI double.
 
That was the only run allowed by Vargas (1-1), who allowed four hits, walked two and struck out two over the final 6.2 innings in relief of starter Lainey Lyle to pick up her first win of the season.
 
North Dakota State finished with 13 hits including a double and single from Koehn. Kaylee Moore, DeCamp and Cardenas each finished with two hits.