Hawks rally in sixth, win in nine to split DH with South Dakota

PHOTO/Nick Foreman

VERMILLION, S.D. (UND ATHLETICS)– North Dakota softball rallied with a four-run sixth inning in the second game of Saturday afternoon’s doubleheader at South Dakota and the Fighting Hawks completed the comeback with a two-run ninth inning to split the day’s Summit League-opening action with the Coyotes. USD shutout UND in the opener 7-0, but the Hawks responded with a 6-5, extra-inning win in game two.

North Dakota (16-15, 1-1 Summit) was held scoreless in its first 12 trips to the plate on Saturday, before the sixth inning of game two proved fruitful for the relentless Hawks. Angie Dumlao recorded a one-out single and Taya Hopfauf walked to put runners at first and second. With two outs and a 0-1 count, Callie Honig dropped a pitch into right centerfield to score Dumlao for the Hawks’ first run of the day.

UND was far from done as Camryn Lasota tripled on a 0-2 pitch to plate both Hopfauf and Honig and pull the Hawks to within a run of the USD lead at 4-3. Hailey Bethune then beat the throw for an infield single as her batted ball on the infield forced a tough play for the USD shortstop and chased home Lasota to tie the contest at 4-4.

In the USD sixth, on what would have been a wild pitch ended up with Hopfauf delivering to Makaela Carr at the plate to cut down the go-ahead run for the Coyotes to end the frame. That was just the start of Carr’s impressive relief outing as she worked 1-2-3 frames in the seventh and eighth innings and retired the first two batters in the ninth as she sat down eight straight.

Offensively, the Hawks left two on base in the seventh and were unable to push across a two-out single in the eighth. However, UND again struck with two away in the frame in nearly the same fashion as they did in the sixth. Dumlao singled and Hopfauf drew another walk to set the table for Katelyn Neumayer who singled into center field and advanced to third on a two-bag error as both base runners scored to give UND a 6-4 advantage and Carr a cushion tally. USD managed a solo shot in the bottom of the ninth, but Carr induced a groundout to Joten at short and the senior made a quick play to Neumayer to close out the contest.

In the opener, the Hawks managed just three hits off of USD starter McKenna Young who went the distance with ten strikeouts. Joten recorded two of UND’s hits with a two out single in the third inning and a lead off double in the sixth. Her second hit followed a H. Bethune single as the Hawks put a pair of base runners on with two outs in the frame but came away empty. A walk to Hopfauf in the fourth accounted for the lone UND base runner to not reach via hit.

A pair of rookie arms saw action in the circle for the Hawks in the conference opener. Unity Nelson received the start and went 1.1 before an inside-the-park home run plated three runs to push USD out front 4-0 and end the freshman’s day in the circle. Tehya Armstrong took over and tossed the remaining 4.2 innings facing five over the minimum with two strikeouts.

The Hawks and the Coyotes conclude the series on Sunday. First pitch in the rubber match is set for 11 a.m. Live coverage links for the series are available at www.FightingHawks.com.

For more information on North Dakota softball, visit FightingHawks.com or follow on social media @UNDsoftball.

Postgame Notes

• The win marks the seventh instance this season that the Hawks have beaten a team after losing to them in the same weekend (Northern Iowa, New Mexico, Buffalo, Rutgers, ETSU, Dartmouth, South Dakota)
• UND improves to 3-1 in extra-inning games this season
• All six of UND’s runs were plated with two outs
• The 12 hits for the Hawks in the game two victory mark the ninth game this season with ten or more base knocks
• Joten’s two hits in Saturday’s opener marked her team-leading tenth multi-hit game this season
• Neumayer’s three-hit effort in game two marked her team-leading third game with three or more hits this season and her eighth multi-hit game
• Lasota’s two RBI in game two marked her team-leading eighth multi-RBI game this season
• Albrecht fanned eight in game two to move 30 strikeouts from becoming the fourth pitcher in program history to reach 400 in a career
• Albrecht pitched 5.2 innings in a no decision scattering six hits and five walks
• Carr picked up her team-leading sixth win in the circle as she ran her team-leading strikeout total to 66
• UND recorded a season-high 38 at bats in game two