GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The University of North Dakota softball team opened its home portion of the schedule with a split against Western Illinois on Saturday afternoon from Apollo Park.
UND (12-23, 4-6 Summit League) dropped a tightly-contested opener before responding with a victory in the finale to jump to 4-6 in the league standings and remain in a playoff spot as the conference season heats up.
G1: Western Illinois 2, North Dakota 1
The first of two pitching duels went the way of the Leathernecks (13-21, 3-7 Summit League), as the visitors held off the Fighting Hawks, 2-1, to claim the opener.
Nikki Pica went the distance and allowed just one earned run, but fell to 1-7 on the season. The graduate student struck out five and surrendered nine hits over seven innings to record her third complete game over her last four starts.
UND was able to muster only three hits in the opener, led by
Chevelle Sartin's second home run of the season in the bottom of the fourth. The damage was done by the top of the order for the hosts, with
Alexys Campos,
Madison Pederson and Sartin picking up the hits while
Katie Bierstedt also drew a walk.
Pica and the UND defense danced out of trouble in the first and second innings, but the Leathernecks jumped out to a 1-0 lead when a single and throwing error placed runners on the corners with no outs. A sacrifice fly brought home one run, but a strikeout and groundout ended the threat with just the one run.
WIU made it 2-0 in the next frame when a wild pitch brought home a runner from third, but UND answered right back in the bottom of the fourth. Sartin launched a ball to center that hit the wall, causing the center fielder to crash into the wall and allowing the Arkansas City, Kan., native to circle the bases for an inside the park home run and cut the deficit to 2-1.
The Fighting Hawks threatened again in the bottom of the sixth, putting a pair of runners in scoring position after a botched ball in left field, but WIU held the hosts off the scoreboard and closed out the 2-1 win.
G2: North Dakota 3, Western Illinois 0
Lauren Feld allowed just three hits and four walks while striking out six and keeping the Leathernecks off the scoreboard to help the Fighting Hawks defeat WIU, 3-0, to close out the day of action.
Feld continues to tear up hitters during conference play, moving to 2-1 in her three starts. The sophomore has allowed just one run and 14 hits over those three outings, holding opponents to a .197 average and posting an 0.34 ERA.
On the offensive side, UND picked up six hits, led by a two-hit afternoon from
Madi Moore. It was the clutch knocks from
Ashlynn Uvila and Cassie Castenada in the bottom of the sixth that moved a 1-0 lead to a 3-0 advantage.
Neither side could get much going on offense until the bottom of the fourth when UND broke through. A pair of singles by Moore and Pederson before a Bierstedt was hit by a pitch to load the bases with just one away. A fielder's choice by Uvila cut down the runner at home, but Castenada followed with a ball that was mishandled at third base and allowed everyone to be safe to make it 1-0 UND.
Feld ran into trouble in the top of the sixth, with WIU loading the bases after an error and back-to-back walks with two outs. The sophomore escaped the jam by getting a ground ball to second to end the stanza with UND still in front by one.
North Dakota took advantage in the bottom half of the inning, with Uvila smacking an RBI double to left field to score Moore and Castenada following with an RBI single back up the middle to push the lead to 3-0 after six.
Feld worked a quick top of the seventh and closed out the 3-0 victory for the Fighting Hawks.
UND and WIU will conclude the weekend series with a pair of games on Sunday afternoon from Apollo Park beginning at noon.
