Last season for Darren Mueller’s NDSU softball team was dismal, as a 4-14 conference record led to just 17 wins and 37 losses in a season that he and his team would like to forget. A new year brings new beginnings and hope as the Bison began their 2025 campaign in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Virginia Tech, Fordham University, and the College of Charleston joined the Bison at the Charleston Invitational.
NDSU began their slate of games in South Carolina with a matchup against the Hokies of Virginia Tech. The Bison began their season with a whimper as Virginia Tech run-ruled the Bison 8-0 in five innings. The Herd would threaten early by getting three runners on but couldn’t capitalize over the first two innings. The Hokies would break the ice in the third with five runs, followed by a three-run homer in the fourth inning. NDSU could only muster one Jasmyn Yessian single. Savvy Williams would take the opening-day loss as she went just two and third, giving up three hits and a walk with one strikeout.
Game two of the day versus the host school, the College of Charleston, would be a much better outcome as the Bison picked up a 2-1 win over the Cougars. Amai Hanta, the freshman from Hawai’i, would notch her first collegiate hit in the first inning and then score two batters later when Yessian brought her home with an RBI groundout.
Charleston would tie the game on a Bison error in the fourth inning. NDSU would break the tie in the sixth as Hanta would draw a walk and steal second. Yessian would come up big as a clutch RBI single, giving the Bison a 2-1 win. Addie Bowers would get the win as she went five innings, giving up four hits, a walk, and three punchouts to go along with the unearned run allowed on the error.
Kaitlyn Dunford came in for the save, and she did just that. An inherited runner never reached the plate as she set down the next three hitters in order. She would shut the door in the seventh as another scoreless inning and a strikeout locked down the win.
Day two at Patriots Point began with a walk-off winner against the Rams of Fordham University. Savannah Henzler would give the Bison an early lead as she drove in Jasmyn Yessian with an RBI single to right field for her first collegiate hit and run batted in. Fordham would tie the game in the fourth inning. The game remained even into the seventh when Henzler led off the inning with a single, Ella Claus would pinch run for her.
Claus would move to second on a sac bunt, and then freshman Jessica Delatorre played the hero role with her first career hit and RBI. A pinch-hit ringing double would drive in Claus and give NDSU their second invitational win. Madison Wihlm pitched three innings, allowing one run on three hits with three strikeouts in a no-decision.
Savy Williams picked up the win in relief with four scoreless innings, allowing just one hit with a strikeout and no walks.
The rematch with 17th-ranked Virginia Tech was almost a carbon copy of the first game as the Hokies blanked the Bison 9-0 in five innings. Virginia Tech scored five in the first, three in the second, and one more in the fifth for good measure. Star Cortez, Bella Dean, and Zoey King recorded the three hits for NDSU in the game.
Day three in Mt. Pleasant meant a Sunday morning rematch with Fordham, and once again, the Bison were able to eke out a 2-1 win over the Rams. Bella Dean put the Bison on top in the first inning by putting a charge into the first pitch she saw and serving it over the center field wall to give NDSU a 1-0 lead.
Savannah Henzler would add to the Bison lead as she hit an RBI triple that scored Zoe King home from first to make it 2-0. Fordham would cut the lead in half with a run in the fifth, but the Rams got no closer as Addie Bowers got the save with a groundout and two flyouts. Junior Piper Reed picked up her first win of the season, going six innings, allowing one run on nine hits and a strikeout.
North Dakota State will trade the beaches of South Carolina for the sun and sand of Mexico as it plays in the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge. The Bison will be joined by BYU, Boise State, Indiana, Florida International, and Illinois State. NDSU will begin the challenge against Brigham Young University at noon Wednesday. That game will be the first of five in a four-day span.