Softball

North Dakota State opened the weekend with two losses Friday, March 23 at the LSU Round Robin.

NDSU fell 4-0 to Baylor in game one.

The Bears took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run single from Shelby Friudenberg. Taylor Ellis would add two more for the Bears in the bottom of the fourth.

Baylor pitcher Gia Rodoni kept a no-hit bid into the sixth inning with two outs before it was broken up by Julia Luciano, who singled on a 2-2 pitch. Rodoni struck out 11 with no walks over the first six innings. Regan Green closed out the game.

KK Leddy suffered the loss for NDSU, giving up four runs with three strikeouts and one walk.

The Bison would then fall in game two of Friday’s doubleheader against BYU 3-1.

The Bison fell behind early in the second when Emilee Erickson hit a two-run home run. The Cougars added to their lead in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly from Alexa Strid.

The Bison cut the Cougars’ lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the sixth when Jaime Barta came into pinch run and scored on a BYU fielding error.

NDSU outhit BYU 7-3 in the game.

Jacquelyn Sertic was credited with the loss and struck out six, gave up three hits, walked three and hit one batter.

In their third game of the weekend, the Bison defeated the No. 10 ranked LSU Tigers 1-0 in nine innings.

Bre Beatty reached on a throwing error to start the top of the ninth inning. Barta came in to pinch run and advanced to second on a groundout before being brought in to score by Tabby Heinz’s hit.

Sertic recorded the win, and her fifth shutout of the season, giving up no runs on five hits with two walks, striking out 10 and hitting one batter.

Men’s track and field

Ben Klimpke stood at second place after day one of the decathlon competition with 3,526 points in five events, 85 more points than his previous first-day best, at the UC Riverside Spring Track Classic Thursday, March 22.

Klimpke opened the day with a personal best of 11.06 seconds in the 100m dash to lead the field, then posted the top mark in the long jump at 22-03.75 (6.80m). He finished the day with a personal best 51.58 in the 400m dash.

After day two, Matt Neururer led the Bison with 6,753 points to finish in third place. Klimpke scored a personal best 6,428 points to finish sixth.

Neururer led all decathletes with a time of 4:32.42 in the 1500m.

Klimpke recorded a personal best in the discus, throwing 114-3 (34.82m), improving by over six meters. He also had a personal best in the javelin, throwing 152-0 (46.34m).

On Saturday, March 24, Tim Heikkila (3:53.25), Elliott Stone (3:54.17) and Camron Roehl (3:54.75) finished first, second and third in the 1500m. All three finished with a personal-best time for the event.

J.T. Butler won the 100m dash with a career-best time of 10.68.

Marcus Walton recorded a personal-best mark of 23-07.25 (7.19m) in the long jump, taking fifth place Saturday.

Women’s track and field

Competing unattached, Amanda Levin led the heptathlon with 2,844 points. Levin ran the second-fastest 100m hurdles in 15.14 and finished with the top time in the 200m dash (25.60).

Jaelin Beachy ran a personal-best 14.67 in the 100m hurdles. She also threw a second-best shot put mark of 37-06.50 (11.44m).

Levin would finish first in the heptathlon with 4,725 points Friday, March 23. Levin recorded the top performances in the long jump at 18-09.75 (5.73m) and ran a 2:19.06 in the 800m.

Macy Denzer finished third with 4,686 points and a personal-best of more than 18 feet in the javelin throw, throwing a 136-0 (41.45m) for the best throw in the field.

Beachy finished fourth with 4,541 points to improve her personal-best score by 212 points. Beachy threw her top throw in her career in the javelin at 126-3 (38.49m).

On Sunday, Lauren Gietzen won the pole vault, clearing 12-11.75 (3.96m). Senior sprinter Alexis Woods took first place in her outdoor 400m dash opener, running 54.51.

Annika Rotvold opened her outdoor season with the second-fastest 1500m of her career, taking first in 4:30.65.