MURRAY, Ky. – The North Dakota softball team went 2-0 on Friday in the Velvet Milkman Classic with a 9-4 win over Green Bay and 2-1 victory against Murray State. The Hawks have won three-straight games, now sitting at 6-7 on the young season.
Game 1 – North Dakota 9, Green Bay 4
The Hawks slapped a season-high 13 hits in the first game against Green Bay, with four players logging two or more hits.
Brooklyn Morris went 3-for-3 at the plate, recording two RBIs and one run.
Aleksia Severson, Jaedyn Valdez and
Chloe Bethune all had two hits, while
Camryn Lasota,
Katelyn Neumayer,
Hailey Bethune and
Makenna Alexander had a hit each.
Unity Nelson went 5.1 innings, allowing seven hits and two earned runs, striking out three. She picked up the win, moving to 2-2 on the season.
Tehya Armstrong threw 1.2 innings of no-hit and no run ball, walking one and striking out one.
How It Happened
UND jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning, when Severson came through with a two-out bases clearing RBI double, to bring in Bethune, Morris and Valdez. The Hawks had four hits in the inning.
Green Bay responded with four runs in the top of the 3rd inning, to take a 4-3 lead. UND committed three errors in the frame, while the Phoenix had three hits.
After a scoreless bottom of the 3rd, NoDak scored six runs to end the game across the final three innings. An RBI ground out from Lasota in the 4th brought in Valdez to tie it up at 4-4, before four runs in the 5th.
Alexander drew a bases loaded walk to make it 5-4, which was soon followed by a
Chloe Bethune RBI single, pushing it to 6-4. Morris broke it open with a two-RBI single, bringing in Quincie Chunestudy and Alexander, as UND led 8-4.
Alexander added insurance with an RBI single in the 6th inning, putting NoDak up 9-4. They would go on to win by that score.
Game 2 – North Dakota 2, UND 1
North Dakota found a different way to win in the second game, using just two runs to get it done. Five different players had one hit each, with Severson,
Hailey Bethune, Alexander, Valdez and
Brooklyn Morris all recording hits.
Tehya Armstrong earned the win, going 5.0 innings, giving up five hits and one run, while walking one and striking out three. She is now 2-2 on the season. Tegan Livesay recorded her first save of the season, throwing two scoreless innings, allowing one hit, walking two and striking out four.
How It Happened
Severson made it happen in the top of the 1st, smacking a double off the center field wall, before moving to third base off a
Taya Hopfauf ground out. Severson then scored on a Murray State wild pitch, putting the Hawks up 1-0.
Morris put the Hawks up 2-0 in the 2nd inning, with a two-out RBI single to drive in Valdez. That was all Armstrong and Livesay would need.
Following a run from Murray State in the 4th inning, Livesay found herself in a jam in the 6th. She allowed a leadoff double, before recording a strikeout and a groundout, leaving a runner at third base with two outs. Livesay then walked two, to load the bases before coming up with a huge strikeout to end the inning and leave three stranded.
Livesay sat the Racers down 1-2-3 in the 7th, featured by two more strikeouts. The Hawks would win their third straight game by a 2-1 margin. NoDak will return to the diamond for two more games tomorrow against Murray State at 3:00 p.m. and IU Indy at 5:30 p.m.
For more information on North Dakota Softball, follow on social media @UNDsoftball or visit FightingHawks.com.
