COLLEGE PARK, Md. – North Dakota State softball swept day two of the Capital City Classic on Saturday to improve to 4-0 on the weekend with a 6-5 victory over Army West Point in nine innings, followed up by a 6-1 win over Monmouth.
 
NDSU has earned the top spot in the round robin format of the classic and will take the top seed in the classic championship game on Sunday morning.
 
The Bison started off strong, loading the bases with a double, walk and single to begin the bottom of the first. Cameryn Maykut then hit a two-RBI single down the left-field line to score Emilee Buringa and Molly Gates. Later in the inning, Avery Wysong would bring in a third run with a bases loaded walk.
 
Army West Point would respond with a solo home run to lead off the second and the score would remain 3-1 in favor of NDSU into the fourth when Chloe Woldruff would double to start the inning and score in the next at bat when Wysong singled.
 
Army again would respond immediately, leading off the fifth inning with a home run to cut the deficit to 4-2. Down to their final outs, the Black Knights would cut the deficit to 4-3 with a sacrifice fly in the seventh. In the next at bat, with two outs, Army would get an extra base hit to tie the game at 4-4.
 
Both teams would fail to score with the placed runner on second in the eighth inning, but Army scored the runner in the top of the ninth to take a 5-4 lead.
 
The Bison responded with a double to left center by Woldruff to lead off the inning, tying the game at 5-5. Two batters later, pinch runner Aba Turner scored the winning run on a ball in play by Nicole Licea that gave the Bison a 6-5 win.
 
Paige Vargas picked up the win, allowing two unearned runs in relief with four strikeouts to just two hits in 2.2 innings of work.
 
Woldruff finished 3-for-4, including two doubles, with an RBI and a run scored. Buringa was 2-for-4 with a double and a run. Wysong and Maykut each had two RBIs.
 
In game two, the Bison would get runners in scoring position in the first and second innings but were unable to capitalize. However, Dez Cardenas would hit a two-out double in the third and then score as Maykut singled in the next at bat to give NDSU a 1-0 lead.
 
NDSU would plate five runs in the fourth inning, starting with a one-out double from Skylar Padgett that scored Licea after she reached earlier in the inning with a double. In the next at bat, Buringa would hit a two-run home run to make it 4-0. It was her fifth homer of the season, tied for the team lead.
 
After a two-out single from Cardenas, Maykut would hit the second home run of the inning as she gave the Bison a 6-0 lead with her third home run of the season.
 
Monmouth would score their only run of the game in the sixth inning.
 
Vargas picked up the win in relief, tossing 3.1 innings with five strikeouts and one run against. Mac Schulz started the game and tossed 3.2 scoreless innings, allowing three hits with two strikeouts.
 
Woldruff would finish 3-for-4 for the second-straight game, while Cardenas also had three hits, including two doubles. Maykut finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs.
 
The Bison will advance to the seeded title game for the Capital City Classic and will face the No. 2 seed at 9 a.m. CT on Sunday.