LAFAYETTE, La. -- The University of North Dakota softball team dropped a 3-0 decision to Samford on Saturday morning to close the Lafayette portion of the LSU Classic.
UND (3-4) couldn't get the offense going in the loss, posting only three hits and failing to get a run across.
Jannay Jones was solid in her third start of the season in the circle, firing her second complete game of the season. The sophomore allowed only two earned runs, five hits, and one walk while striking out three, but fell to 1-2 on the year.
The Fighting Hawks had their opportunities to strike early in the contest, placing a runner at third with two outs in the bottom of the first.
Morgan Flann led off the frame with a walk before stealing second and advancing to third on a single by Jones, but was stranded. In the next stanza,
Victoria Minor drew a two-out walk, stole second, and scampered to third following a throwing error by the catcher, but was also left at third to keep the game scoreless after two.
Samford (4-3) did all its damage in the third and fourth innings, striking for a trio of runs to take a 3-0 advantage. In the third, an error and two singles brought the first run home before a hit-by-pitch and sacrifice fly scored two more in the fourth. Jones did a nice job limiting the damage, however, stranding a runner at third in the third and leaving the bases loaded in the fourth.
UND threatened again in the bottom of the sixth, as
Ashlynn Uvila reached via an error and
Angel Love followed with a walk to place runners on first and second with no outs, but the Hawks couldn't move the runners any further to head to the final inning of play down by three.
The Bulldogs loaded the bases in a bit of an unorthodox way in the top of the seventh, reaching on a wild pitch after a strike three, an error, and a hit batter to fill the bases with no outs looking to add on. Jones danced her way out of trouble again, striking out the first before inducing a 4-3 double play to end the inning.
The Hawks brought the tying run to the plate after a two-out hit and walk, but were held off the scoreboard to give Samford the 3-0 win.
North Dakota will now head to Baton Rouge for a pair of Sunday games. First, UND will battle Samford at 10 a.m. before taking on No. 7 LSU at 12;30 p.m. Sunday's finale can be seen on SEC Network+.
