GRAND FORKS, N.D. -- The University of North Dakota softball team dropped a pair of contests to Kansas City on Saturday afternoon to close out the regular season from Apollo Park in Grand Forks.
UND (16-31, 8-14 Summit League) will advance to the 2021 Summit League Softball Championships next week in Fargo as the No. 6 seed and will battle No. 3 seed North Dakota State on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
G1: KC 2, UND 1
After rallying for back-to-back wins on Friday, UND's comeback fell just short in the opener by a 2-1 score on Saturday afternoon on a warm day in the Grand Cities.
Lauren Feld allowed just three hits over seven innings, but gave up a pair of runs and three walks to earn a tough defeat and fall to 4-7 on the season. On offense, the Fighting Hawks outhit the Roos, 7-3, led by a pair of multi-hit games from
Alexys Campos and
Chevelle Sartin.
Jailene Carpio also reached twice in the contest with a hit and a walk.
All the damage was done by Kansas City in the first inning, picking up a pair of runs after a RBI single and ensuing wild pitch by Feld to quickly put the visitors up, 2-0, after one inning of play.
UND's defense came up with some good plays to thwart any further damage, turning a double play in the fourth, sixth and seventh innings to keep the deficit at two throughout the contest. The hosts cut into the lead in the bottom of the sixth, when a two-out RBI single from Sartin scored Carpio from second to trim the deficit to 2-1 heading to the final stanza.
The Fighting Hawks had a chance in the bottom of the seventh, with
Jocelyn Kirk and Campos coming up with hits with two away to put the tying run in scoring position and the winning run on base. Carpio nearly found grass in left field, but a great running catch sealed the win for Kansas City.
G2: KC 7, UND 1
The Roos hit three home runs and struck for four runs in the top of the fifth to power their way to a 7-1 win over UND in the finale.
Nikki Pica earned the start on senior day for the Hawks, but surrendered six earned runs and four walks over 4.1 frames to drop to 1-10 on the season.
Jannay Jones finished out the game in relief with a scoreless 2.2 innings of one-hit ball.
UND was able to knock out seven hits in the game, but couldn't string much together to chip into the deficit.
Ashlynn Uvila had two hits in her final home game at Apollo Park while
Madi Moore went 2-for-2 and drove in the lone run with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth.
After the Hawks stranded a pair of runners in the bottom of the first, KC took advantage in the top of the second to jump out to a 2-0 lead. A hit-by-pitch put a runner on before an RBI triple plus an errant throw allowed everyone to score and give the Roos that two-run lead.
A solo homer in the top of the fourth pushed the lead to 3-0, but UND looked to respond quickly. Moore led the bottom of the stanza with a double to left center before a Uvila single looked to bring home a run, but Moore was thrown out at the plate from right field to keep the hosts scoreless.
Following a flyout to begin the top of the fifth, Kansas City extended its lead with a solo home run, walk single and three-run homer to put five runs on the board in the stanza and a 7-0 lead after five complete.
UND would not be shutout in the contest, with Kirk singling, moving to second on a fielder's choice and swiping third before Moore drove one to the wall for the sacrifice fly and cutting the lead to 7-1 after six.
The Hawks could not get any more runs across, as Kansas City closed out the Saturday sweep with a 7-1 victory.
