FARGO, N.D. – The sixth-seeded North Dakota Fighting Hawks pulled off a stellar come-from-behind win against No. 3 seed North Dakota State after being down 5-0 in an opening round game of the Summit League Softball Championship presented by U.S. Air Force Special Warfare. UND advanced to the double-elimination round of the tournament compliments of the 6-5, 10-inning upset of the host Bison.
NDSU opened its home half of the first inning with a pair of runs. Madyson Camacho walked and scored from first on Stephanie Soriano's sacrifice bunt and a UND throwing error and the Bison went up 2-0 after an RBI single by Ciara Jensen.
The Bison scored two more runs in the fourth inning, including a solo home run by catcher Avery Wysong, who delivered her eighth long ball of the season. UND recorded a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to cut the NDSU lead to 5-2 as Jocelyn Kirk picked up an RBI-triple, while Madi Moore posted an RBI-groundout to cut into the deficit.
North Dakota had an eventful sixth inning as Mariah Peters came through with an RBI-single to cut the lead to 5-3 and loaded up the bases with no outs. After Paige Vargas came in to relieve Lainey Lyle, UND's Alexys Campos made it a one run contest with another run-scoring single. Vargas would strike out the following two batters, but a wild pitch would bring home Chevelle Sartin to tie the game at 5-5.
After three scoreless innings, North Dakota opened the 10
th inning with a leadoff walk from Cassie Castenada. A wild pitch sent her to second and UND's Chevelle Sartin recorded a bunt single that moved the runner to third. Mariah Peters would then bring home the go-ahead run on a fielder's choice to make it a 6-5 game. North Dakota reliever Jannay Jones, who came in the fourth inning to relieve Adrianna Dilal, took care of business in the 10
th and retired all three batters she faced.
Pitcher of Record
Win – Jannay Jones (6-8): 6.0 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 4 walks, 1 strikeout
Loss – Paige Vargas (9-11): 5.0 IP, 4 hits, 1 earned runs, 2 walks, 5 strikeouts
Notable Notes
• This is the first time since the 2009 Summit League Tournament that a game went 10 innings (WIU vs. Southern Utah), and is the second Division I tournament win for the Fighting Hawks as they won their last Big Sky tournament game in 2018
• Jannay Jones picked up her sixth win of the season and came in relief in the fourth inning, and kept the Bison scoreless
• Chevelle Sartin recorded three hits for the Fighting Hawks, while Mariah Peters drove in two runs
• NDSU starting pitcher Lainey Lyle went five innings and gave up eight hits on five earned runs
Up Next
With the 6-5 victory on Wednesday, North Dakota advances to Thursday and will take on No. 2 Omaha at 2:30 p.m.
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