PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – The North Dakota State Softball team picked up a 4-1 win over Sacramento State on Thursday to open up the second weekend of the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge at Nancy Almaraz Field.
 
North Dakota State (2-5) broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning, as Emilee Buringa hit a two-run home run to help lift the Bison past the Hornets (2-4). In the circle, Paige Vargas (2-2) held Sacramento State to three hits and had seven strikeouts.
 
The Bison took an early lead as Anjolee Aguilar-Beaucage hit a single through the left side in the bottom of the first. The single went through the legs of the left fielder and all the way to the fence, allowing Aguilar-Beaucage to circle all the way around and beat the throw in to the plate to give the Bison a 1-0 lead.
 
Vargas would go to work as she faced the minimum through four innings in her second-straight outing. The senior fanned four Hornets in the first four innings, allowing only one walk that was later canceled out with a strike by Kaylee Moore from behind home plate to catch a stolen base attempt.
 
Sacramento State would tie the game in the fifth inning when the Hornets put together their only three hits of the afternoon. However, Vargas would get two strikeouts in the inning to limit the damage to one run and strand two base runners.
 
The Bison would answer back immediately in the bottom of the fifth inning, as the team hit for the cycle in the inning. Ella Claus led off the inning with a triple past a diving effort from the left fielder down the line. On the next pitch, Buringa would hit her first home run of the season to center field, putting the Bison back in front.
 
Two batters later, Aguilar-Beaucage would pick up her second hit of the day, as she nearly had a home run with a double off the fence in left. She would then come around to score her second run of the game as Reanna Rudd hit a single to center in the next at bat for the final run of the game.
 
Vargas would get one more strikeout in the sixth inning on her way to a complete game victory. She finished the game with just one run allowed on three hits and three walks with her season high of seven strikeouts.
 
The Bison pick up their first win in program history over Sacramento State, previously 0-3, after the teams had not met since 2012.
 
Aguilar-Beaucage, Rudd and Carley Goetschius all finished with two hits in the game, while seven Bison combined for 10 hits overall, a season high for the Herd.
 
North Dakota State will be back in action on Friday, with the first two games of the day at the event. The Bison will take on Southern Illinois in game one at 10 a.m., with game two of the day coming against #11/8 Tennessee with a 12:30 p.m. scheduled first pitch.