OXFORD, Miss. – Paige Vargas logged her ninth complete game of the season to help guide the North Dakota State softball team past Purdue, 4-0, at the Rebel Invitational on Thursday afternoon.

Bella Dean got the Bison (15-11) off to a quick start with an RBI ground out to score Emilee Buringa in the opening inning. Carley Goetschius took advantage of a wild pitch to stretch the lead to 2-0 after the first inning. The contest then went scoreless for two frames until Ella Claus laced an RBI single into left field to increase the advantage to 3-0.

Zoe King added insurance and put the game out of reach with an RBI single up the middle to make the score 4-0 in the fifth inning. The Bison went on to hold off the Boilermakers (12-10) over the final two frames to pick up the shutout victory, 4-0.

Vargas (8-5) went the distance for the Bison tying a season-high eight strikeouts to go along with one walk. It also marked her third shutout of the season.

The Bison totaled eight hits as a team with seven different players contributing at least one. Anjolee Aguilar-Beaucage went 2-of-4 at the plate with one run.

NDSU will conclude play at the Rebel Invitational against Samford on Saturday. First pitch is set for 10:30 a.m.