March 4, 2019
Softball
The Bison went west for the Stanford Nike Invitational and swept through the opening day with wins over Cal Poly and Montana.
Against Cal Poly, the Bison got on the board early and often in the 8-0 win. Madyson Camacho took advantage of a Mustang error off Sam Koehn’s sharply hit ball to the shortstop to score in the first inning.
Maddie Hansen crushed her team-leading fifth home run in the third, a two-run shot to extend the lead to 3-0.
The lead doubled in the fourth. Montana DeCamp plated Vanessa Anderson with a single to left field. Two batters later, DeCamp, along with Camacho, crossed the plate on a Zoe Stavrou ground ball.
NDSU tacked on solitary runs in the fifth and seventh innings. Stephanie Soriano’s single down the right field line scored pinch runner Lauren Reimers before Katie Shoultz rounded out the scoring, bringing home Anderson.
Throughout, KK Leddy controlled the game from the pitcher’s circle. The junior threw her second shutout of the year, striking out six and giving up just three hits.
Leddy came on in relief of Paige Vargas against Montana. The freshman gave up just four hits in five innings of work, but gave up two innings in the top half of the third to give the Grizzlies the lead.
That lead was short lived. The Bison bats got to work in the bottom of the frame. Camacho’s double scored Shoultz, and three batters later Camacho crossed the plate along with Cara Beatty following Hansen’s double.
Shoultz was at the center of the Bison’s insurance runs in the sixth, hitting the infield single that scored Koehn before being brought in by DeCamp’s single to left.
That allowed Leddy, who was brought in on the top half of the sixth, to close out the game. Vargas, who faced a pair of hitters in the sixth, took the win with Leddy recording the save.
The second day saw the competition level go up, as NDSU faced No. 23 Northwestern. The Big Ten outfit got the bat on the ball early, downing the Bison 7-0.
The Wildcats put up five on Leddy in the opening frame and didn’t look back. Northwestern pitcher Kenna Wilkey allowed just two hits to the Bison.
NDSU’s game against Stanford Saturday was cancelled, but the Bison were scheduled to play the Cardinal Sunday afternoon. NDSU travels down to Florida next weekend and throughout spring break for a total of seven games.
Baseball
A weather affected weekend for the Bison saw the team drop two of three games against Northern Colorado.
In the opening game, NDSU opened a lead through the middle innings, with the exclamation point coming on Carter Thompson’s solo home run in the fifth. But Northern Colorado scored in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to tie the game. A walk-off single in the ninth won the game 7-6 for the Bears.
The opening game of a Friday doubleheader of seven inning games went the way of the hosts again. The Bison got the first lead of the game in the third with Jake Malec scoring on an error. That turned out to be the only run for the Bison.
The Bears tacked on a pair of runs in the fourth and another in the sixth for the 3-1 win.
The finale brought out the fireworks, as both teams saw the bats light up. NDSU opened the scoring again, with Peter Brookshaw plating Bennett Hostetler with a double before scoring on a Brock Anderson single.
Northern Colorado scored three in the bottom of the first to take the lead. Another Brookshaw double scored Hostetler, and Hunter Koep drove in Brookshaw two batters later in the third to give the Bison the lead again.
NDSU added a run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly and two more in the sixth on throwing errors. NDSU made it 11 runs with three more in the seventh. Hostetler’s RBI single came two hitters before Alex Abercrombie’s triple to round out the scoring.
NDSU is scheduled to travel to Mississippi Valley State for a four-game series next weekend.