DAVIS, Calif. – The University of North Dakota was on both sides of two shutouts in the final day of competition at the at Aggie Invitational II on Saturday. The Fighting Hawks defeated St. Mary's, 8-0, before dropping a 6-0 decision to Princeton to close out the day.
“We did a lot of good things in game one today,” head coach Jordan Stevens said. “We swung it aggressively, played all out defense and pitched it well. It was nice to have a bounce-back game like that, but we were unfortunately unable to finish the day, but credit to Princeton's pitcher for her outing.”
Redshirt junior Kaylin VanDomelen turned in a dominant performance in the circle against the Gaels, as she threw her eighth complete game and second shutout of the season. She only conceded three hits to St. Mary's, while striking out seven.
North Dakota's bats also got hot later in the contest against St. Mary's, as the Fighting Hawks put up three runs in the fifth and four in the seventh.
Junior Taylor Nadler led UND with a season-best three hits, scoring one run and batting in three more. Nadler hit a solo home run in the second, on just the second pitch she faced, to get North Dakota on the board. The solo shot marks the sixth of the year for Nadler.
In the top of the fifth, the Fighting Hawks put together three runs on four hits to go up 4-0 over St. Mary's. Dani Romero, Mary Martin and Autumn Cervantez had consecutive base hits, including a double by Martin, which gave UND a 2-0 lead after Romero scored. Rachael Waynick then hit a two-RBI single to right field to bring home Cervantez and Alicia Young, who was pinch running for Martin.
Four hits and a St. Mary's error gave UND four more runs in the top of the seventh. Cervantez led off with a single, before Victoria Minor reached on a throwing error. UND then loaded the bases, before a walk and a two-RBI double by Nadler put the Fighting Hawks up 7-0. The final run of the game was scored as a single by VanDomelen allowed Angel Love a free trip home.
Following the blowout against the Gaels, North Dakota's bats went quite against Princeton, as pitcher Erica Nori threw the Tigers' first no hitter in 11 years.
Princeton scored its six runs off 10 hits and one error, and only three UND batters earned a base on balls in the contest. The loss was the third for North Dakota over the weekend, as the Fighting Hawks turned in a 2-3 record at the Aggie Invitational II.
“We look forward to taking what we learned from the weekend and getting back to Grand Forks so we can clean up some things we head to Montana,” Stevens said.
North Dakota has concluded the non-conference tournament portion of its schedule and will now begin Big Sky Conference competition next weekend, March 25-26, with a three-game series at Montana. Saturday's doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. (CT), with Sunday's finale also starting at 2 p.m.
