FAYETTE, Iowa – The Bemidji State University Softball team split the series with Upper Iowa University winning the first game 5-1 then falling 6-4 in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference play in Fayette, Iowa Saturday afternoon.
Ashley Herold led the Beavers at the plate hitting her first two home runs of the season batting in three runs on the day.
The Beavers (13-15, 2-4 NSIC) started the scoring in the first inning in the opener at the Eischeid Softball Complex with
Mariah Stevenson scoring
Alexa Christenson on a fielder's choice. Two innings later Herold extended the BSU lead with a two-run blast to left field for her first home run of the season.
Alexa Christenson padded the lead with a two-out RBI double to center field to go up 4-0 in the fourth.
Molly Houts went deep for the second time this season to give the Beavers a strong 5-0 lead. The bottom of the sixth Upper Iowa got on the board with Laila Pelds recording an RBI single for the final score of the game at 5-1.
The Beavers had some hot batters to start the day with nine hits with
Alexa Christenson, Houts and Herold all having multiple hits. Herold, Houts,
Alexa Christenson and
Aimee Christenson all had extra base hits with Houts and Herold going deep and Christenson doubling.
Kora Martin and
Elaina Christiansen also reached base with a single.
Kyla Damerow (4-8) earned her fourth win of the season almost pitching a complete game shut out. Damerow pitched a perfect 4.1 innings to start the game giving up her first hit in the bottom of the fifth. Damerow got help from the defense for a majority of the outs with 14 fly outs, six ground outs and one strikeout. Along with that she gave up only five hits, one earned run and only walked one batter.
In the second game, Bemidji State got itself on the board early in the first inning as Houts reached base on a two-out single and reached third on two wild pitches before scoring the first run by a Stevenson single. After two scoreless innings, the Beavers added one more run on the board with Yeager hitting her first home run of the season. The Peacocks (13-16, 5-6 NSIC) responded in the bottom of the fourth adding four runs from four singles to take a 4-2 advantage. Martin the following inning for BSU hit a sacrifice fly to center field to cut the lead to one. Herold brought the game level with her second home run of the day to bring the score to 4-4 in the sixth inning. Rae VanMilligan hit the go-ahead home run in the bottom of the sixth to go up 6-4. BSU threatened in their last at-bat in the seventh with two reaching base via hit-by-pitch, but a pop out and fly out ended the game.
Six student-athletes recorded a hit in game two. Herold and Yeager both tallied extra base hits with homeruns for the Beavers. Also reaching base from hits were, Houts, Stevenson, Christiansen and
Aimee Christenson with singles.
Morgan Benedict and
Aimee Christenson also drew walks.
Stella Dolan started game two and worked 3.2 innings before four runs were scored in the fourth inning. Dolan stuck out two batters, walked one and gave up five hits.
Abby Kessel (0-1) entered the fourth inning with one runner on and got out of the inning only facing one batter. Kessel pitched for one more inning allowing a walk and gave up three hits and two earned runs to end up with the loss. Damerow entered the game in the middle of the sixth inning facing four batters and only gave up one hit. Delaney Vetter (4-5) pitched a complete game for the Peacocks striking out seven batters, walking two and gave up six hits and three earned runs to earn the victory.
The Beavers return to the diamond on Tuesday for their home opener against the University of Minnesota, Duluth with the doubleheader starting at noon at Chet Anderson Stadium.
For more information on the Bemidji State Softball program, follow the Beavers on Twitter (@BSUBeavers), like them on Facebook (facebook.com/BSUBeavers) or sign up for the TXTUpdates from BSUBeavers.com text-messaging system through the "Multimedia" pull down menu on the main page of BSUBeavers.com.
Located on the shore of Lake Bemidji, Bemidji State University sponsors 15 varsity athletic programs with NCAA Division I men's hockey membership in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association and women's hockey membership in the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, while its 13 NCAA Division II programs hold membership in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC).
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