GRAND FORKS, N.D. – A big four-run inning in the bottom of the fourth helped propel the University of North Dakota softball team to a 7-1 win against Northern Colorado on Saturday afternoon at the Apollo Sports Complex.
The win clinched the weekend series for UND and the Fighting Hawks now sit at 15-26 (3-7 Big Sky) on the season; while Northern Colorado drops to 5-29 (1-11 Big Sky).
After splitting the doubleheader with the Bears on Friday, North Dakota came out swinging, earning bases with its first three batters of the game. Nicole Babrowski put together a strong plate appearance together as the lead-off hitter, earning a base on balls after starting her appearance in the hole, 0-2.
With the bases juiced, Megan Keegan stepped up to bat and she hit a grounder to third, but the UNC third basemen couldn't make the play, which resulted in two runs safely crossing home to give UND the early 2-0 lead.
Later in the bottom of the fourth, North Dakota's bats again got hot; this time leading to four runs on six hits. Babrowski, Kaylin VanDomelen, Taylor Hansen and Keegan all had RBI singles in the inning to help give UND a 6-0 lead with just three innings left in the contest.
In the bottom of the fifth, Babrowski hit a sac-fly to center field which scored Mary Martin from third to put UND up 7-0.
Unfortunately, VanDomelen's bid for a fifth shutout was spoiled in the top of the sixth when the Bears' used an RBI single to score a runner from second.
North Dakota did limit UNC to just the one run to close out the game for the 7-1 win.
VanDomelen threw her 17th complete game of the season and struck out five batters to increase her Big Sky leading strikeout total to 118 on the season.
Babrowski went a perfect 2-for-2 on the day, earning one walk, scoring two runs and batting in two additional runs.
North Dakota has a short turnaround, as it gets ready for a nonconference matchup against Omaha on Tuesday, April 19. The doubleheader in Omaha, Neb., is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. (CT).
