NDSU softball headed southwest from South Carolina to Mexico to participate in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge. The Bison would play five games in four days against BYU, Boise State, Indiana, Florida International, and Illinois State. Day one would match NDSU against Brigham Young and Boise State.

The Bison would fall 3-2 in the opener as a three-run second inning by the Cougars hemmed them in. On the bright side, Piper Reed held BYU to its lowest run total of the season. NDSU would slowly chip away at the 3-0 deficit as Bella Dean would drive in Lileigh Nieto on a groundout in the fifth to make it a two-run game. 

The 3-1 score would hold until the seventh, as with only three outs left, the Bison would make one last charge as Taylinn Warren led off the inning with a pinch-hit single. Star Cortez would then reach on an error. A sacrifice bunt put runners on second and third, and then Dean hit a deep sacrifice fly to make it a one-run difference.

The comeback would be halted there as, following a walk to put runners on the corners, Zoe King would ground into a double play back to the pitcher to close the game. NDSU would strand nine baserunners in the loss. Piper Reed allowed three runs on 10 hits in five and third innings, striking out one batter while only walking one hitter. 

Day two for the Bison would be one to forget as they would be outscored 18-0 in two losses to Boise State and Indiana by scores of 8-0 and 10-0, respectively. Game one of the day versus the Broncos would jump on NDSU, scoring two runs in the first. Errors in the third and fourth innings gave Boise two unearned runs. The Broncos would then score two runs in the fifth and sixth innings to run-rule the Bison. 

The NDSU offense was held to just two Jasmyn Yessian hits. Savy Williams allowed six runs in five innings of work, two unearned. She would allow nine hits but strike out two. She would take the loss, but game two would be one giant L as the Hoosiers of Indiana would blank the green and gold 10-0 behind five Bison errors. Indiana would score runs in each of the five innings played, including three-run innings in the second and fifth to close it out.

Star Cortez and Bella Dean notched the only hits for NDSU; Addie Bowers took the loss, allowing five runs, three of which were earned, allowing four hits while punching out one in two innings of work. 

Kaitlyn Dunford would finish in the circle, as in her three innings. She allowed five runs, three of which were earned, and seven hits but recorded three strikeouts.

Day three finally produced a win for NDSU, as Bella Dean’s walk-off home run gave the Bison a 6-4 victory over Florida International University. Jessica Delatorre gave her team the lead early, hitting an RBI single to score Bella Dean. FIU tied the game in the second inning. Dean’s power surge began in the third inning as she homered over the left-field fence to grab a 2-1 lead. Freshman Savannah Henzler would follow Dean’s lead in the fourth with her first career home run out to left field to push the Bison lead to two. 

The Panthers would then wake up and score a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to grab a 4-3 lead. In the seventh, Chloe Woldruff would lead off the inning with a walk, and Amai Hanta hit a one-out pinch-hit single to put the winning run at the plate. Following a groundout, Bella Dean stepped up to the plate and lived out a dream many young ballplayers live for: two outs, the bottom of the last inning, and a chance to walk it off. She did that as she launched a game-winning three-run home run to win it 6-4. 

Savy Williams would get the win in relief, pitching two scoreless innings and allowing three hits with one strikeout.

The finale against Illinois State was met with another shutout, as the Redbirds defeated the Bison 3-0. The Redbirds would score first in the third as a dropped fly ball gave ISU the lead. Illinois State would tack on two more in the fifth with an RBI single.

NDSU would threaten in the fourth as three straight two-out singles loaded the bases, but a pop-up out ended the threat. They stranded eight and left five in scoring position. Piper Reed took the loss, allowing three runs, two of which were earned, in four and two-thirds innings of work. She punched out five but allowed six hits in the defeat.

The Bison look to regroup in the Lion Invitational in Commerce, Texas, to take on Prairie View A&M and East Texas A&M this weekend.