GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The North Dakota Softball team finished their regular season Saturday with a 9-4 victory over Western Illinois, closing the regular season with 12 wins and fifth place in the Summit League. It was the highest finish in the Summit League since the team joined the league; and with three wins over the Leathernecks, it was the first three game sweep of a Summit League opponent.

Cassie Castaneda went 3-3 from the plate with a two run home run that effectively put the game on ice in the bottom of the sixth. She also got the scoring started with an RBI double to right center in the first. Later Izzy Haslett singled to left to drive Castaneda in to make it 2-0 after one inning.

After a scoreless second, Mariah Peters doubled to left in the bottom of the third that drove Castaneda and Katie Joten in to make it 4-0. After a scoreless fourth and fifth, WIU scored all four of their runs in the top of the sixth. But in the bottom of the sixth, UND would answer.

Angie Dumlao drive a double off the wall in left that brought Taya Hopfauf in and later Joten doubled to right center that brought in Madi Moore and Brooklyn Morris—who had pinch run for Dumalo to make it 7-4. Castaneda followed with a big blast to left center which made it 9-4.

After the game, the team honored Seniors Moore and Lauren Feld for both of their four year careers in Grand Forks. Moore was a First Team All-Summit League player in 2022 and career .305 hitter and Feld made 42 appearances in the circle with 19 starts.
 

Key Points

·         Castaneda has now hit safely in ten of her last eleven games.

·         The last UND three game sweep over an opponent was in 2018 against Montana.

·         UND ends the regular season with the second longest active win streak at four games, trailing South Dakota State's 11 straight wins.

·         Three players had multiple hits (Joten, Castaneda, Madison Pederson) and three players had multiple RBI (Joten, Castaneda, Peters).

Scoring Summary

B1 | Castanea RBI double (1-0)

B1 | Haslett RBI single (2-0)

B3 | Peters two RBI double (4-0)

T6 | Ketcherside RBI double (4-1)

T6 | Foote RBI single (4-2)

T6 | Alvarez two RBI single (4-4)

B6 |Dumlao RBI double (5-4)

B6 | Joten two RBI double (7-4)

B6 |Castaneda two run home run (9-4)

UND play the fourth seed South Dakota in the first game of the Summit League tournament Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. Follow fightinghawks.com and UND Softball on Twitter and Facebook for all coverage of the tournament action.