VERMILLION, S.D. – Paige Vargas’ stellar pitching performance lifted third-seeded Omaha to a 2-0 victory over second-seeded Omaha and advanced to the winner's bracket of the 2022 #SummitSB  Championship at Nygaard Field in Vermillion, S.D.
 
With the win, NDSU head coach Darren Mueller who is the league’s all-time leader in wins, earned career win No. 700, as the 21^st-year head coach and is now 700-417 all-time.
 
All-league first team hurler Kamryn Meyer of Omaha looked strong through the first two innings of work, as the junior struck out a trio of batters and didn’t give up a hit leading into the third inning. NDSU recorded its first two hits of the game off back-to-back singles from Skylar Padgett and Molly Gates in the third. With two outs and two runners on, junior outfielder Dez Cardenas laced an RBI double to bring home the Bison’s first run of the contest and that was all the Bison needed to move on to the winner’s bracket.
 
Omaha’s best chance at putting up some runs up would be in the bottom of the third inning as the Mavericks put two runners on first and second with two outs, but Vargas was able to escape the jam with a groundout at third.
 
The Bison would double its lead in the top of the fourth inning off a Carley Goetschius solo home run to straightaway center, as that home run was her third of the campaign. After a one-out double from Omaha’s Lexi Burkhardt, Vargas delivered with back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the fourth inning.
 
Padgett, who reached base twice yesterday against North Dakota, posted her second hit of the game off a leadoff single in the top of the fifth inning and was followed by a hit up the middle from Gates, who collected three hits in the game.
 
Vargas, who surrendered just two hits through five innings, gave up just two hits inf the final two innings to capture her 16^th win of the season.
 
Pitcher of Record
Win – Paige Vargas (16-9): 7 IP, 3 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 7 strikeouts
Loss – Kamryn Meyer (20-6): 7 IP, 8 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 9 strikeouts

Notable Notes
• Paige Vargas earned her 16^th win of the season and pitched a complete game shutout striking out seven Maverick batters
• This will be NDSU’s first trip to the second round of the championship since 2019 after they missed out on the second round during last year’s championship
• With the win, NDSU head coach Darren Mueller captured career win No. 700 and is now 700-417 in is 21^st year leading the program
• Padgett, who reached base twice yesterday against North Dakota, went 2-3 for the Bison at the No. 9 spot
• Molly Gates collected the most hits in the contest going 3-for-4 overall at the leadoff spot
• Kamryn Meyer, who registered 11 double-digit strikeout performances on the season, had nine punchouts tonight

Up Next
North Dakota State will play for a berth in the title on Saturday at 2 p.m. CT against the winner of the South Dakota State-South Dakota matchup beginning at 9 a.m., while the loser of that contest faces an elimination game against the third-seeded Mavericks at 11:30 a. m. An updated bracket can be found at thesummitleague.org and on our championship central located here.

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