MURRAY, Ky. – The North Dakota softball team won two more games on the final day of Velvet Milkman Classic, defeating Murray State, 3-2 in nine innings, before beating IU Indy, 8-5 in the night cap. UND improves 8-7 on the season, now on a five-game winning streak.
Game 1 – UND 3, Murray State 2 (9 innings)
The Hawks won another tight one over the Racers today, totaling seven hits and three runs. Jaedyn Valdez was the hero, recording the go-ahead RBI single in the top of the 9th inning to put the Hawks up 3-2. Valdez was 2-for-3 in the game.
Camryn Lasota recorded two hits, while
Hailey Bethune,
Chloe Bethune and
Brooklyn Morris had one hit each.
Unity Nelson picked up the win, going a career-long 8.0 innings pitched, allowing two runs (one earned), six hits, five walks, while striking out a career-high eight batters. She threw 181 pitches. Tegan Livesay picked up a save for the second-straight game, going the bottom of the 9th, allowing no hits and striking out two.
How It Happened
UND got the scoring started in the 2nd inning, when Morris reached on a Racers error, bringing home
Hailey Bethune, who started the inning with a leadoff walk. UND led 1-0.
Murray State answered in the bottom of the 3rd inning with a run on one hit. There was then no scoring in the contest until the top of the 8th, when
Hailey Bethune drove in Ava Neumayer on an RBI single, putting the Hawks back in front, 2-1.
North Dakota had a chance to close it out in the 8th, but Murray State kept the game alive, scoring a run on an error by the Fighting Hawks, making it 2-2. The Racers had a chance to win it, with a runner on third and one out, but Nelson got Allie Waldron to ground into a fielders choice, getting the out at home with the runner from third trying to score. Nelson then got the final better to pop out, sending the game to the 9th.
In the top of the 9th, Valdez immediately brought home
Makenna Alexander with an RBI single, who was the runner on second base. The Hawks led 3-2, while Livesay closed the door in the bottom half to give UND a fourth-straight win.
Game 2 – UND 8, IU Indy 5
The Hawks calculated a whopping 15 hits against the Jaguars, having five different players record at least two hits. Lasota had a team-high three hits, while
Hailey Bethune, Aleksia Severson, Alexander, Valdez and
Chloe Bethune all secured two hits. NoDak left 11 runners on base in the game.
Livesay gave the Green and White a shot in the circle, throwing 3.2 innings, allowing two earned runs, giving up six hits, striking out six and walking one.
Tehya Armstrong picked up the save, going the final 3.1 innings, giving up just one hit and one run, striking out two and walking four.
How It Happened
UND jumped out to a 6-0 lead through the first three innings, started off by three runs in the 2nd inning.
Chloe Bethune reached on an error to start, bringing in her sister Hailey to make it 1-0, before Lasota roped a two-rbi single to bring home Chloe and Valdez.
Up 3-0 headed into the 3rd,
Taya Hopfauf and
Katelyn Neumayer hit back-to-back home runs, giving the Hawks a 5-0 lead.
Chloe Bethune later hit a one-out RBI single to drive in Hailey, making it 6-0.
IU Indy got back into it 4th with four runs, to cut the NoDak lead to 6-4.
Chloe Bethune had a double in the 5th that brought in Valdez and Alexander to push the Fighting Hawks lead to 8-4.
Fast forward to the bottom of the 7th, when IU Indy had one last chance at it. The inning began with two routine outs, before Armstrong allowed a single and had two errors against her in the field, to load the bases. She walked a batter in, making it 8-5, but called game when the runner from third attempted to steal home, where the Hawks were able to get her out and end the game.
North Dakota would win its fifth-straight game, by a score of 8-5. The Hawks will be back in action on Feb. 27 for two games against UT Arlington and UTSA in San Antonio.
For more information on North Dakota Softball, follow on social media @UNDsoftball or visit FightingHawks.com.
