VERMILLION, S.D. – The North Dakota State softball team picked up a split with the University of South Dakota on Saturday at Nygaard Field, falling in game one on a walk off 5-4 before winning game two in convincing fashion 7-1.
The Bison would jump out to an early lead in game one, as
Cameryn Maykut hit her fourth home run of the season, with
Emilee Buringa on after a leadoff walk, to put the Bison up 2-0.
South Dakota would get one run back in the bottom of the first and added another in the second to tie the game at 2-2, but the Bison would respond with two more in the top of the third.
Skylar Padgett would score on a ball in play by
Molly Gates that led to a throwing that put the Bison back in front 3-2. Then Maykut picked up her third RBI of the game with a single to score Gates from second as the Bison took a 4-2 lead.
The scoring would go quiet for both teams until the bottom of the seventh, with the Coyotes tying the game 4-4 early in the inning before winning 5-4 on a walk off error with the bases loaded.
The final two runs of the inning proved to be unearned runs on
Paige Vargas, who fell to 10-5 on the season after allowing three earned in 6.1 innings.
In game two, the Bison answered the game one loss immediately as they scored four runs in the top of the first and never looked back.
Dez Cardenas singled home
Emilee Buringa for the first run of the game.
After an error allowed Gates to score from third, Maykut picked up her fourth RBI of the day with a double to the left center gap to score Cardenas from second. Maykut would also take third on the throw in, setting up a sacrifice fly from
Chloe Woldruff for the fourth and final run of the inning.
In the second, Gates would pick up an RBI single to score Padgett from second after her leadoff double to begin the inning. In the third,
Avery Wysong would double down the right field line and Maykut would come around to score from first to extend the Bison lead to 6-0.
After South Dakota scored their only run of the game in the bottom of the fifth, Gates would add another RBI single, this time scoring
Emilee Buringa in the top of the sixth as the Bison extend their lead to 7-1.
Lainey Lyle, who tossed a no-hitter against the Coyotes last season, allowed just two hits and two walks on the day as she gave up just one unearned run in seven innings of work for her first complete game victory of the season. Lyle finished with four strikeouts.
The Bison will face the Coyotes in a series deciding game on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1 p.m., which has been pushed back from an originally scheduled 11 a.m. start.
