The North Dakota State softball team had their worst showing of the season in the Oregon/Oregon State Invite. They went 1-5 in the tournament, getting swept by both Oregon and Oregon State while splitting with Portland State.

The Bison picked up a win against Virginia last Tuesday, winning 2-0.

Paige Vargas was dealing, pitching a two-hit shutout. She was perfect through three innings, finishing with seven strikeouts. The shutout was the 13th of her career, and it was the fourth shutout of the season for NDSU, already surpassing last year’s total of three.

Reanna Rudd would give the Herd the lead, scoring the only runs of the game with a two-run home run to left-center field, her team-leading fifth of the season, to give NDSU the 2-0 lead.

The Bison were able to bounce back from a tough showing in the Oregon/Oregon State Invite and go 4-1 in the Capital City Classic. They beat Binghamton, Army and Monmouth while splitting with Maryland.

The Herd beat Binghamton in game one on Friday 5-4 to reach program win number 1,200.

Binghamton jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the second inning, scoring three runs in the frame to go up 3-0. They would go on to add another run in the fifth, pushing their lead to 4-0.

Carley Goetschius got the offense started for NDSU in the sixth with a two-run single to left that ultimately cleared the bases after an error to cut Binghamton’s lead to 4-3.

Molly Gates tied up the game in the seventh with an RBI double. Then Gates scored from second on a grounder by Camryn Maykut that ended in a fielder’s choice to give the Bison the lead.

Lainey Lyle got the start, pitching 3.2 innings, allowing three runs while striking out three. Savy Williams got the win in relief, allowing zero runs on 1.2 innings.

In game two on Friday, NDSU beat Maryland 3-2. They had to come from behind again as the Terps took the lead in the bottom of the second after a sac-fly.

The Bison would tie the game up in the third after an RBI double by Dez Cardenas to bring home Gates.

Maryland would take back the lead in the fourth after a bunt single allowed the runner to score from third.

The Bison would answer back in the fifth after a ball to the right side allowed Ciara Jensen to score from third to tie the game. In the next at bat, Cardenas would give the Herd the lead with a sac-fly, scoring Emilee Buringa.

Vargas pitched another complete game, allowing two runs while striking out two. She also forced 15 ground-outs in the game.

In game one on Saturday, the Bison beat Army 6-5.

The offense got off to a fast start, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first. With the bases loaded, Maykut hit a two-run single. Later in the inning, Avery Wysong would draw a bases-loaded walk to give NDSU a 3-0 lead.

Army would hit a solo homer in the second inning to cut the Bison lead to 3-1. However, the Bison would answer back in the fourth as Wysong hit an RBI single to keep the lead at three.

Army led off the fifth inning with a solo shot and would cut the deficit to one after a sac-fly in the seventh. In the next at-bat, the Black Knights would tie the game after an extra-base hit.

The Black Knights would take the lead in the top of the ninth, scoring the runner from second. However, in the bottom of the inning, Chloe Woldruff would tie the game with an RBI double and Aba Turner would score the winning run after a ball in play by Nicole Licea.

Williams got the start, pitching four innings while giving up two runs and striking out one. Vargas got the win, going 2.2 innings while allowing zero runs and striking out four.

In game two on Saturday, the Bison would beat Monmouth 6-1.

The Herd would get the scoring started in the bottom of the third after a Maykut RBI single to give NDSU a 1-0 lead.

In the fourth inning, the Bison would score five runs. Skylar Padgett would hit an RBI double. Up next, Buringa would hit her fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot to give NDSU a 4-0 lead.

Maykut would get in on the action, hitting the second home run of the inning for the Bison, a two-run homer to extend the Bison lead to 6-0.

Mac Schulz got the start, pitching 3.2 scoreless innings while striking out two. Vargas got the win, going 3.2 innings while giving up one run and striking out five.

NDSU ended the Capital City Classic with a 5-3 loss to Maryland on Sunday.

The Terps jumped out to an early lead with a four-run second inning that featured a home run and a steal of home.

The Herd would answer back with three runs in the third. First, a two-run single from Maykut and then an RBI single from Rudd would put the Bison down 4-3.

The Bison were held scoreless the rest of the game, despite having the bases loaded with one out in the sixth inning.

Schulz got the start, pitching six innings while giving up five runs.

After their performances in the Oregon/Oregon State Invite and the Capital City Classic, NDSU has a record of 18-13 on the season. Up next, the Bison will start conference play, as they will head to South Dakota for a three-game series starting on Saturday.