SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The North Dakota softball team split a pair of contests on the first day of the Birds Up Bash from Roadrunner Field on Friday. The Hawks won their first game, 8-7 against UT Arlington, before falling to UTSA, 4-0. The Green and White now sit at 9-8 on the season.
Game 1 – UND 8, UT Arlington 7
UND improved to 5-0 in one-run games earlier on, with the win over the Mavericks. It was a game that the Hawks fell behind 4-0, but scored five runs in the third innings and eight runs unanswered to pull off the come-from-behind victory.
NoDak out hit UT Arlington 11-7, with three players recording two hits, in
Camryn Lasota,
Hailey Bethune and
Taya Hopfauf. Lasota drove in three RBIs while Bethune drove in two. Aleksia Severson,
Katelyn Neumayer,
Makenna Alexander, Jaedyn Valdez and
Brooklyn Morris all recorded one hit.
Tegan Livesay picked up her fourth win of the season and
Tehya Armstrong earned her third save. Livesay, now 4-3 on the season, surrendered four earned runs across 4.0 innings, allowing five hits, walking two and striking out six.
Armstrong came in for relief to help Livesay in the fifth inning and threw 3.0 innings, allowing just two hits, walking two and striking out one.
How It Happened
After leaving five runners on base and trailing 4-0 through the first 2.5 innings, the Fighting Hawks found a spark in the bottom of the third. Following a leadoff double from Hopfauf, Neumayer drove her in with an RBI single, cutting the score to 4-1. On a throwing error, Neumayer was able to make her way to third base, where Bethune drove her in with an RBI single, making it 4-2 with still no outs.
After an Alexander fielders choice, Valdez hit by pitch and
Chloe Bethune pop out, there were runners at first and second with two outs. Morris ripped an RBI single, bringing in Alexander to make it 4-3. Lasota then came to the plate and smacked a two-run double to bring in Valdez and Morris, putting UND in front 5-4 going into the fourth.
Livesay made quick work of the Mavs in the top of the fourth, leading to UND tacking on two more runs in the bottom of the fourth, via an RBI triple from
Hailey Bethune and sac fly from
Chloe Bethune to push the lead to 7-4.
UT Arlington got the ball game within one run in the top of the fifth, courtesy of a Dee McClarity two-run home run, to cut the score to 7-6. Armstrong came in for Livesay and was able to throw a scoreless inning, keeping it a one-run game.
Lasota added insurance in the bottom half, driving a leadoff home run to right field for her second nuke of the season, pushing the score to 8-6. Neither team would record a hit or a run in the sixth, sending the game to the top of the seventh at 8-6.
Armstrong was dealing, retiring two of the first three batters of the inning, having two outs with a runner on first. A single up the middle from Camila Spriggs made it runners on first and second, bringing the go-ahead hitter to the plate.
Kelsey Creech from UT Arlington hit a double, which brought in one run, but Morris was able to retrieve the ball quickly, hit the cut-off person in Alexander, who relayed the ball to Hopfauf at the plate, where the Hawks threw out Valeria Feeney who tried to score from first to end the game. UND escaped with a well-earned, 8-7 victory.
Game 2 – UTSA 4, UND 0
Game two was a little different, as UND was outhit 10-2. Both hits from the Hawks came in the top of the first inning, via Hopfauf and Neumayer. Overall, UND left six runners on base in the game.
Unity Nelson tossed her third complete game and had her fourth outing of at least 6.0 innings pitched this season. The sophomore went 6.0 innings, allowing three earned runs, giving up 10 hits, walking two and striking out three. She is now 3-3 on the season.
How It Happened
UND's best opportunity to do damage came in the top of the first inning, when Hopfauf hit a single to left field, Severson got hit by a pitch and Neumayer singled to left, loading the bases with one out for
Hailey Bethune. Bethune grounded into a double play, on a 5-1 putout, ending the frame.
UTSA also left the bases stranded in the bottom of the first, but scored first in the bottom of the third, via a throwing error from Hopfauf trying to throw out Demiree Stafford stealing third. Stafford came around to score, going up 1-0.
The Roadrunners tacked on another in the bottom of the fourth, via a Katia Reyes solo home run to left field, making it 2-0.
UND's last opportunity to score came in the top of the sixth, started by a leadoff walk from Severson. Following back-to-back outs from Hopfauf and Neumayer, Bethune hit a grounder to third in which was going to end the inning, but an error from the first baseman allowed Bethune to reach safely. UND had runners at first and second with Alexander coming to the plate.
A wild pitch occurred during Alexander's at-bat, allowing both runners to move up to second and third base. Alexander drew an eight pitch at-bat, but ended up flying out to center field, to keep the score at 2-0.
UTSA tacked on two more insurance runs in the top of the seventh, to win the game 4-0. UND will be back on the diamond tomorrow at 9 a.m. against UT Arlington and 2 p.m. against Saint Francis.
For more information on North Dakota Softball, follow on social media @UNDsoftball or visit FightingHawks.com.
