OMAHA, NEB. – Valley City State softball dropped a pair of Sunday afternoon games to Bellevue University, 6-1 and 6-4. VCSU's Logan Gronberg and Maddy Zander each homered on the day, but the Bruins held on for the doubleheader sweep.
 
The series was scheduled to be VCSU's home opener but was moved to Bellevue due to field conditions and weekend forecast in Valley City. VCSU falls to 15-14 overall and 4-2 in the North Star while Bellevue improves to 16-14 on the season and 3-3 in the conference.
 
BELLEVUE 6, VCSU 1
Logan Gronberg homered in the first inning to put the Vikings on the board early but that's all VCSU could score in the game as Bellevue's Katie Cunningham pitched a complete game, allowing just five hits to open the series.
 
Gronberg finished the game going 2-for-3 at the plate and scored VCSU's only run. Ashlyn Diemert also posted two hits and swiped a base in the game, and Makenzee Stone added a hit for the Vikings.
 
Bellevue scored two runs in three separate innings Sunday including a solo homer from Savannah Short and a 2-run single by Miranda Garcia. Cunningham tossed 7 complete innings without walking a single batter and struck out seven batters.
 
Maddy Zander got the loss for VCSU after starting in the circle and pitching 5 innings. She allowed six runs on eight hits, walked one and struck out eight. Cooper Klaahsen tossed 2 innings in relief and allowed just one hit while striking out four.
 
BELLEVUE 6, VCSU 4
VCSU's Madison Hazelton pitched five shutout innings until the Bruins erupted for six runs in the sixth inning to take a 6-4 victory in the second game of the day.
 
The first two innings went scoreless, but the Vikings scored on a Bruin error in the third inning to open with a 1-0 lead. The next two innings remained scoreless as VCSU held onto its lead going into the sixth inning.
 
Bellevue then came from behind and scored six runs, aided by RBI singles from Garcia and Kaitlyn Fisher as well as a bases-clearing double by Cunningham. VCSU answered with three runs in the bottom half of the inning including an RBI triple from Kennadi Stone and a 2-run homer by Zander. That's all the Vikings could score and fell short of a comeback.
 
VCSU's Diemert, K. Stone, Zander and Kylee Banerd each recorded a hit in the game. Banerd, Stone, Zander and Madison Spacher each scored for the Vikings and Zander drove in two runs.
 
Hazelton got the loss for VCSU after pitching 5 and 1/3 innings. She allowed five runs, two of which were earned, on four hits, walked seven and struck out 10. Klaahsen and Zander each made an appearance in relief.
 
Bellevue's Ellie Zoucha earned the win after starting in the circle and working 5 and 2/3 innings. She allowed four runs on four hits, walked one and struck out three. Cunningham got the save after pitching 1 and 1/3 innings in relief. She did not allow a single hit while walking just one and striking out three.
 
Bellevue totaled six hits Sunday led by two hits from Fisher and Cunningham who each added a double in the game. Cunningham drove in a team-best three runs.