DICKINSON, N.D. – The Valley City State softball team split its Saturday doubleheader against conference leader (RV) Dickinson State, including a 5-3 win to open the series. It is just the second conference loss for the Blue Hawks this season.
VCSU then fell 5-4 to the Blue Hawks to finish with the split. VCSU is now 18-19 on the season and 7-7 in conference play. Dickinson State is now 26-10 overall and 12-2 in conference play.
The Vikings and Blue Hawks round out the series Monday at 4/6 p.m. CT.
VCSU 5, (RV) Dickinson 3
The Vikings came from behind to defeat the Blue Hawks in the series opener and held off the conference-leader to take the 5-3 road win.
Despite trailing 2-0 early,
Kylee Banerd's 2-run single tied the game in the third inning. VCSU then took the lead on a
Makenzee Stone base hit and
Ashlyn Diemert then doubled to bring home Stone and hold a 4-2 lead.
Dickinson cut the lead to 4-3 on a Bailey Hansen RBI single in the fifth inning, but VCSU responded with Banerd's RBI double in the sixth to take the 5-3 advantage.
VCSU posted 10 hits and five doubles in the game, including two doubles from Diemert. Banerd drove in three runs while Stone swiped the plate three times.
Maddy Zander picked up the win after starting in the circle and working 5 innings. She allowed four runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out one.
Madison Hazelton pitched 2 no-hit innings in relief, walked two and struck out one.
Dickinson's Alison Eldridge got the loss in the circle after pitching 3 and 2/3 innings and allowing four runs on seven hits. HaiLeigh Davis was 2-for-3 at the plate and Venner doubled for the Blue Hawks.
(RV) Dickinson 5, VCSU 4
The Blue Hawks rebounded with a 5-4 win to split the doubleheader.
Dickinson took an early 2-0 lead once again with RBI singles from C Wilharm and B Lijewski in the third inning. A Farrington added a 2-run single in the fourth to build a 4-0 lead.
From there, VCSU got on the board with Banerd's RBI double.
Logan Gronberg and
Alyssa DePoorter each added an RBI single to cut the Dickinson lead to 4-3 in the middle of the fifth. Dickinson then added a run in the bottom half of the inning on a Viking error to widen its lead to 5-3.
VCSU went on to score another run in the seventh inning on
Kennadi Stone's 2-out triple, but could not bring home the tying run.
Gronberg finished the game going 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI while DePoorter added two hits and one RBI. Banerd doubled and K. Stone tripled for the Viking offense.
Madison Hazelton got the loss for VCSU after starting in the circle and working 3 and 1/3 innings. She allowed four runs on six hits, walked two and struck out three.
Cooper Klaahsen pitched 2 and 2/3 innings in relief and allowed just one run on two hits and struck out one.
Dickinson State's Davis totaled two hits with a double and scored a run Saturday. Ava Jahner got the win in the circle after working 4 complete innings and allowing three runs on six hits.
