MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – North Dakota State softball picked up its fifth win in six games as the Bison defeated Drake 7-2 Saturday afternoon behind a complete game victory from Savy Williams at the Gopher Indoor Classic at U.S. Bank Stadium.
 
The Bison (11-10) would jump out to an early lead as Carley Goetschius and Reanna Rudd scored on a bases loaded double off the fence in left center from Zoe King. Goetschius reached on a walk and Rudd had a single earlier in the inning and the bases were loaded with a 10-pitch walk from Kaylee Moore.
 
Drake (6-11) would answer right back, as they too loaded the bases in the first. The Bulldogs had a pair of hits, but ultimately capitalized on a Bison error defensively to score a pair of runs, one unearned, and tie the game at 2-2.
 
In the top of the second, the Bison jumped right back in front as Anjolee Aguilar-Beaucage hit her fourth home run of the season with a two-run shot over the fence in left, scoring Emilee Buringa, who reached two batters earlier with a hit by pitch.
 
Williams, who picked up her first win of the season (1-0), would then take control of the game defensively for the Bison, limiting Drake to just one hit in the next four innings as she helped erase two more errors for the Bison defensively and hold on to the 4-2 Bison lead into the sixth.
 
NDSU would tally another run in the sixth after King started off the inning with a leadoff single. After a sacrifice bunt moved pinch runner Riley Leadstrom to second, Leadstrom then stole third. Skylar Padgett then singled home Leadstrom with a ball through the right side, as NDSU took a 5-2 lead.
 
The Bison would add two more runs in the seventh, as Moore hit a double down the line in left to score runners on the corners for the Bison, as Buringa and Rudd came around to score.
 
Williams would close out the complete game victory in the seventh as she allowed just five hits and three walks on the afternoon. It is her first complete game victory of the season.
 
King finished as the only Bison with multiple hits, but Buringa, Goetschius, Rudd, Moore and Chloe Woldruff all reached safely twice on the afternoon.
 
The Bison will be back in action on Sunday with their final two games of the Gopher Indoor Classic, taking on Idaho State and Drake again. First pitch against Idaho State is set for 11:30 a.m., with Drake scheduled to start at 2 p.m.