Bison Softball Wraps Up Puerto Vallarta College Challenge

Thursday, February 16

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

3 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

Sacramento State

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Photo by: Connor Allen/Ole Miss

Bison Softball Wraps Up Puerto Vallarta College Challenge

2/15/2023 1:52:00 PM | Softball

NDSU Notes

FARGO, N.D. - North Dakota State softball will continue its season opening trip in Mexico at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge, playing the final four games of a 10-game trip, beginning with Sacramento State on Thursday, February 16. The second weekend for the Bison will include games over three days at Nancy Almaraz Field, as North Dakota State will also face Southern Illinois and No. 11/8 Tennessee on Friday and close out the trip against RV Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.

Game Coverage
All games from the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge will be streamed live by FloSoftball. A subscription to FloSoftball will be needed to view the games. Live statistics for Bison games will be provided for most games. All links for the video stream and stats will be available on the softball schedule page on gobison.com.

Looking Back on Opening Weekend
The opening weekend of the season saw the Bison go 1-5, but all five losses came to teams that were ranked, receiving votes, or have moved into the rankings after the opening week. Just like in 2019 when the Bison were in Mexico, North Dakota State opened up its Puerto Vallarta stay with a 4-0 victory, defeating California Baptist.

In defeats, the Bison led against No. 24/22 Oregon until a late home run saw the Ducks complete a comeback. NDSU also had the tying run in scoring position in a 4-2 loss to now No. 23/25 Maryland and Paige Vargas had a perfect game through four innings against RV Ole Miss, before the Rebels came from behind to win 5-3.

The Series (Sacramento State)
North Dakota State will take on Sacramento State for the fourth time in program history, and the Bison will be looking for their first win against the Hornets, going 0-3 with every game coming in a neutral-site meeting. The Bison have not faced Sacramento State since 2012, a 1-0 loss at the Fresno State Kickoff. NDSU lost 4-1 in 2006 and 5-1 in 2008.

The Series (Southern Illinois)
The Bison will face Southern Illinois for the first time since February of 2020, with the series tied between the programs at 1-1. The Bison won the last meeting, winning 5-2 in the 2020 meeting at the South Carolina Classic. Friday's game will be the second meeting between the two teams in Puerto Vallarta, as the first all-time meeting came in 2019 at the same tournament, with the Salukis outlasting the Bison in a shootout with a 10-9 win.

The Series (Tennessee)
North Dakota State will take on Tennessee for just the second time in program history and the first time since March of 2015, when the Volunteers defeated the Bison 14-3 in five innings at the Tennessee Invitational.

The Series (Cal State Fullerton)
The Bison will go up against Cal State Fullerton for the first time since 2018 when the Bison defeated the Titans twice at the San Diego State Campbell/Cartier Classic. North Dakota State holds a 2-1 lead in the series history, with the only other meeting coming at Cal State Fullerton's Easton Invitational in 2017, as the Bison fell 4-2. In the two 2018 meetings, the Bison won a shootout 9-8 and then defeated the Titans 9-1 in five innings.

South of the Border
The Bison are currently are in their second trip to Mexico, as NDSU played at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge in 2019. The Bison were 1-3 in their only other trip, securing a 4-0 victory over Northern Colorado with three narrow losses coming against #11 Arkansas (7-6), #5 Washington (5-3) and Southern Illinois (10-9).

Season Openers
Last week, the Bison improved to 28-20 all-time in season openers, including a 12-7 mark in 19 seasons of Division I play. After losses in two straight in season openers to No. 19 South Carolina in 2020 and No. 21 Arkansas in 2021, the Bison have picked up a dominating 10-3 win over Utah State last season and a 4-0 win over California Baptist this season. Against unranked competition in the Division I era, the Bison are 12-4 in the opener, including seven wins in the last nine.

Moore Hits Career Highs Against Oregon
Senior catcher Kaylee Moore had a career day against the Ducks last week, recording three hits, including two doubles. Moore's three hits came against three different Ducks pitchers and she also added an RBI and her spot in the lineup scored a run. It was Moore's first career three-hit game and was also the first two-double game as well.

Immediate Splash With Herd
In the season opener against California Baptist, two Bison newcomers made immediate splashes at the plate with RBI base hits in their first at bats as Bison. Anjolee Aguilar-Beaucage hit an RBI double to give the Bison the lead. Later in the inning, Zoe King stepped up and hit an RBI single up the middle to score Aguilar-Beaucage and double the Bison lead.

Bison Picked Third In Summit League
North Dakota State was picked to finish third in The Summit League in 2023 in a preseason poll of the league's eight head coaches. The Bison have won two of the last four regular season crowns and six of the last eight league tournament titles. NDSU had one first-place vote and finished one point behind Omaha (41) in second with 40 points. South Dakota State (48) took six first-place votes and finished as the favorite to repeat after last year's title. Omaha had the other first-place vote. South Dakota (28), Kansas City (25), St. Thomas (19), North Dakota (16), and Western Illinois (7) rounded out the poll.

Three All-League Returnees
The Bison return three of the five players who were named to The Summit League All-League team last season. Senior pitcher Paige Vargas, and juniors Emilee Buringa and Reanna Rudd, all return. The trio earned All-League Second Team honors. Buringa and Rudd were first time honorees, while Vargas has been named to the All-League team twice in her career.

Vargas In Top 10 for Several Bison Career Categories
Paige Vargas surpassed 100 career appearances during week one in Mexico and is 10th on the all-time list at 102 and tied for 10th with 80 career starts. Vargas is 10th in career innings pitched at 510.2. The senior is eighth in strikeouts at 398 and is 10th with 5.46 strikeouts per game. She is also tied for 10th with 16 complete game shutouts.

Shutouts
After nine shutouts in 2022, the Bison picked up a shutout in game one. Senior Paige Vargas tossed five scoreless innings before turning over the circle to freshman Piper Reed, who pitched two scoreless innings in her collegiate debut, as the duo combined for a shutout.