Bison Set to Open Summit League Play at Kansas City

Saturday, March 25

Kansas City, Mo.

12 p.m.

North Dakota State Athletics

Kansas City

Photo by: Connor Allen/Ole Miss

Bison Set to Open Summit League Play at Kansas City

3/23/2023 3:34:00 PM | Softball

NDSU Notes

FARGO, N.D. - After six weeks of non-conference action, North Dakota State softball will open up Summit League play this weekend with a trip to Kansas City to take on the Roos in a three-game series on Saturday and Sunday.

The Bison are set to play two on Saturday at the Kansas City MLB Urban Youth Academy, beginning the doubleheader at noon. The teams are slated to wrap up the series on Sunday at 11 a.m.

Game Coverage
All three games will have live stats provided. Links will be available on the softball schedule page on gobison.com.

The Series
North Dakota State will look to extend its win streak over the Roos as they enter the week having won the last four games, including both games last season in Fargo. Last season, NDSU won 1-0 and 4-1 before the final game was canceled due to weather.

The Bison lead the all-time series 25-8, including a 13-7 record over the Roos in Summit League play. In Kansas City, NDSU holds a 10-5 record over the Roos all-time. Since Kansas City rejoined the Summit League, NDSU has had just one trip to Kansas City, splitting a four-game series in early April of 2021.

A Look Back at Last Week
The Bison are coming off of a 3-1 week in Mississippi that included a pair of shutout victories over power 5 programs. After a tournament was canceled, the Bison traveled to Starkville and picked up a 2-0 victory at Mississippi State on Tuesday before falling late 2-1 to Purdue in Starkville on Wednesday. The next day in Oxford, the Bison answered back and beat Purdue 4-0 before a 7-1 win over Samford to close out the trip on Saturday.

Summit League Peak Sweep
Paige Vargas and Carley Goetschius swept the latest TicketSmarter Summit League Softball Peak Pitcher and Performer of the Week accolades. It's the first time NDSU has swept the awards since Maddie Hansen and KK Leddy did it on April 8, 2019.

Vargas tossed a pair of complete game shutouts against Power 5 schools Mississippi State and Purdue, finishing the week with 15 strikeouts, just one walk and seven total hits allowed with no runs allowed. Goetschius hit .500 in four games, going 6-for-12 at the plate with a pair of walks, finishing with a .571 on base percentage. Goetschius finished the week slugging .750 with four RBIs and had three runs scored, accounting for seven of the Bison's 14 runs.

Summit League Peak Performers
With the sweep of the honors this week by Vargas and Goetschius, NDSU has won a Summit League Peak Pitcher/Performer honor for four straight weeks. Paige Vargas picked up her third career honor and second this season, as she started the streak on February 27. Carley Goetschius joined Anjolee Aguilar-Beaucage (3/6) and Bella Dean (3/13) as first-time honorees this season.

Goetschius Matches Record
Senior Carley Goetschius tied a program record last week against Samford, recording three doubles in the game, becoming the fourth Bison to complete the feat. Goetschius is the first Bison to do it since Tabby Heinz had three at Cal State Northridge on March 14, 2018. Goetschius also joins Bre Beatty (at IUPUI; May 13, 2017) and Sarah Schmitz (March 12, 1999; vs. Johnson C. Smith).

Vargas Tosses Fourth One Hitter
Paige Vargas tossed a one-hit shutout to lead North Dakota State softball to a 2-0 victory over Mississippi State last week. Vargas was dominant in the circle, with a Bulldog reaching on an error in the second and a double in the third. Following the double, Vargas would retire 14 straight to end the game, finishing with seven strikeouts and no walks allowed.

It is the fourth one hitter for Vargas, and the first seven inning one hitter of her career. It was also the first she didn't allow a walk. Her most recent came on February 14, 2020 as she allowed one hit and one walk against Southeast Louisiana in Gainesville, Florida. She also had ones against South Dakota and North Dakota as a freshman in 2019.

Bison Close Non-Conference Strong
North Dakota State put a wrap on non-conference play last week, closing out a 27-game stretch with victories in 10 of the last 12 games. During the run, the Bison were 2-2 against power 5 programs, and went 8-0 against all other competition.

Shutouts
The Bison have picked up five shutouts in non-conference play, including a pair of shutouts against power 5 programs in the final week before Summit League play begins. The Bison opened the year with a combined shutout by Paige Vargas and Piper Reed in a win over California Baptist. NDSU had a second combined shutout with Reed and Lainey Lyle sharing the work against Brown. Two days prior, Vargas had a solo shutout of Brown, her first of three this season. Vargas then pitched a shutout against Mississippi State in a one hitter and two days later, tossed another shutout against Purdue. All five shutouts have been complete 7.0 inning games.

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.

Senior Leading by Example
Carley Goetschius has started year two with the Bison on a blistering pace, hitting .398 with 12 extra-base hits. Goetschius has 33 hits, including 10 doubles and two home runs along with six walks, a .438 on base percentage. Getting on base, along with her performance at the plate, Goetschius has accounted for 34 of NDSU's 103 runs this season. Along with matching the doubles record last week, Goetschius set a new career high in hits in a game, going 4-for-4 at the plate against Memphis.

Vargas In Top 10 for Several Bison Career Categories
Paige Vargas has had a strong start to 2023, posting a 1.74 era with eight wins and two saves in 16 appearances and 13 starts. Vargas has limited opponents to .178 at the plate with 81 strikeouts in 84.2 innings. Vargas has a walks and hits per inning pitched ratio of just .87 and has three solo shutouts this season, including a one hitter at Mississippi State.

Vargas is eighth on the all-time NDSU list at 114 appearances and 66 complete games, ninth in wins with 54, 19 career shutouts and 577.1 innings pitched. Vargas is tied for seventh with 90 career starts. The senior surpassed 400 career strikeouts in Mexico and against Auburn, Vargas passed KK Leddy for seventh all-time in strikeouts, now sitting at 464. She is ninth with 5.63 strikeouts per game. She is also fifth with five career saves.

Dean Gets First Home Run, Adds Second to Spark Comeback Wins
Bella Dean has made a splash in her first collegiate season. At the Gopher Indoor Classic, Dean hit her first two career home runs. Both led off an inning and both started comebacks for the Bison. She also added an RBI double over the weekend. All three were her first career extra-base hits. In the final week of non-conference play, Dean also stepped up to the plate and ultimately drove in the winning runs for the victories over Purdue and Samford, the first two game-winning RBIs of her career.

Anjolee Adds Power to Bat
Anjolee Aguilar-Beaucage had two career home runs in two seasons at Grand Canyon. The junior transfer has hit four home runs since joining the Bison this season. Aguilar-Beaucage hit three in one day at the Blues City Classic, including two in the victory over Memphis. Aguilar-Beaucage has set or matched nine career single-game highs this season.

Moore Hits Career Highs Against Oregon, Matches at Memphis
Kaylee Moore had a career day against Oregon, recording three hits (against three different pitchers), including two doubles, her first career three-hit game and first two-double game. The catcher then matched it at Memphis, recording three hits and setting a new career high with two runs scored.

Moore has set or matched six career single-game highs this season. The senior catcher has also led the Bison against some of the top competition this season. Playing in 10 of the 12 games against Power 5 programs, Moore leads the Bison with a .308 average and a .333 on base percentage. Her eight hits are tied for a team high and her three doubles also lead the team.

Williams On New Career Long Scoreless Streak
Sophomore Savy Williams has tossed he last nine innings scoreless for the Bison, reaching a new career high. After giving up a pair of one-out runs in the first inning of a complete game victory over Drake in Minneapolis, Williams tossed the final 6.2 innings scoreless. She then added 2.1 scoreless innings against Samford last week to bring her active total to 9.0 scoreless innings in the circle.

Life on the Road
The Bison are slated to play 33 games, originally 36, away from home before the home opener against South Dakota in Summit League play on April 7. During the non-conference portion of the schedule, the Bison traveled over 12,000 miles over the course of five trips in non-conference play.