MACOMB, Ill. – The North Dakota State softball team swept a doubleheader Wednesday at Western Illinois, defeating the Leathernecks 1-0 and 13-4 at Mary Ellen McKee Stadium to take the Summit League series.
Lainey Lyle tossed her first shutout of the season and the third of her career in game one, as she picked up her eighth win of the season. Lyle scattered seven hits and had three strikeouts to go the distance. Lyle has not allowed an earned run in her last 17 innings in the circle.
The Bison would score the only run of the game in the third inning.
Ava Chavarria drew a one-out walk and then stole second. Immediately after,
Emilee Buringa doubled to left center, scoring Chavarria from second.
NDSU started slow in game two, allowing a run in the bottom of the first and a three-run home run in the third. With just two hits in the first three innings, the Bison offense would break the game open in the fourth and fifth with 13 unanswered runs to trigger the run-rule victory.
After singles from
Bella Dean and
Reanna Rudd, and a walk from
Kaylee Moore, loaded the bases to start the fourth,
Chloe Woldruff singled in two runs to cut the deficit in half.
Skylar Padgett then doubled on the next pitch to tie the game, 4-4.
Two batters later, with the bases full again,
Carley Goetschius hit her third career grand slam, including her second against Western Illinois, to put the Bison in front 8-4. In the fifth inning, Goetschius would double in Padgett for her fifth RBI of the game, matching a career high that was set last week.
After Goetschius extended the lead to 9-4 in the fifth,
Anjolee Aguilar-Beaucage had a two-RBI single to extend the lead. Shew would then steal a base for the seventh time in eight games and later scored on a wild pitch, right before
Bella Dean capped the scoring with her second home run of the weekend.
Paige Vargas picked up the win in relief, tossing 2.2 scoreless innings. She had four strikeouts and just one batter reached on Vargas, by way of an error.
Savy Williams picked up a no decision, going 2.1 innings with four runs allowed and a strikeout.
Goetschius and Rudd led the Bison with three hits each. All nine Bison in the lineup reached with a hit or a walk. Goetschius and Dean homered in the same game for the second time this season and the fifth time the Bison have had multiple home runs in a game.
The four-run deficit is the largest overcome by the Bison this season, topping a three-run comeback against Idaho State on March 10.
North Dakota State is set to return to action on Friday, as the Bison are slated to host South Dakota in the home opener for NDSU. The Bison will host the Coyotes in a doubleheader set for a noon start at Tharaldson Park.
