FOREST CITY, IA – The Dickinson State softball opened up North Star Conference play taking 3 of 4 from Waldorf University. The Blue Hawks played a triple header on Saturday March 24th due to the threat of weather on Sunday and finished the series with a single game on Sunday, March 24th. The Blue Hawks move to 13-10 on the season and 3-1 in NSAA play.
Dickinson State University 4, Waldorf University 6
In the first game of the triple header the Warriors jumped on top of the Blue Hawks in the bottom of the first inning taking a 1-0 lead on a Lauren Hein RBI base on balls. The Hawks answered back in the top of the 2nd inning after Claire Shoffit drew a walk to lead things off and was brought in by an RBI single by Whitney Mesi. The Blue Hawks tied it up at 4 a piece in the top of the 5th inning when Claire Shoffit hit a solo home-run to dead center. However, in the bottom half of the inning the Warriors answered back scoring two of their own to take the 6-4 lead for good.
Starting pitcher Jaya Allen only pitched 1 complete inning while Abi Brooks pitched 5 innings giving up 7 hits on 5 runs (4 earned) while striking out 4.
At the plate, the Blue Hawks out hit the Warriors with nine hits in the loss. Claire Shoffit led the way going 3 for 3 with a double, homerun, 2 RBI's and a walk. Whitney Mesi had two hits of her own and one RBI.
Dickinson State University 13, Waldorf University 1
In game two, the Blue Hawks opened up the 1-1 tie in the top of the third when they plated 7 runs, highlighted by Kayla Stephen's grand slam. Stephens finished the game 3 for 3 with a homerun, a double, 5 RBI's and 2 runs scored. Sonja Lawrence was impressive at the plate as well, going 3 for 4 herself. Claire Shoffit continued her dominance at the plate going 1 for 2 with a bases clearing double, 1 run scored, a walk and HBP.
Jaya Allen got the win for the Hawks going 5 complete innings giving up 6 hits, 1 run while striking out 3.
Dickinson State University 13, Waldorf University 12
The final game of the triple header on Saturday was a thriller and the Blue Hawks stormed back in dramatic fashion to take the 13-12 victory. The Blue Hawks had a 5-3 lead until the bottom of the 5th inning when Payge Jurgens belted a 2-out grand slam to give the Warriors a 7-5 lead. The Blue Hawks answered back in the top of the 6th inning scoring two runs to tie the game at 7 all. Whitney Mesi started off the two-run inning with a lead-off solo home-run to deep centerfield notching the game at 6-7. Julie Knight followed Mesi with a walk and was sacrificed to 2nd base by Sonja Lawrence. Andrea Rodriguez hit a 1-out single to centerfield to score Mesi and tie the game at 7 all.
The 7-7 score didn't last long when the Warriors answered back with 5 runs in the bottom half of the inning. A bases clearing double by Peyton Arenson was followed by a 2-run home-run by Ursula DelCampo to take the 12-7 lead for the Warriors. But the Blue Hawks were not going to go down quietly. In the top of the 7th, the Blue Hawks pushed across 6 runs to take a 13-12 lead. Jaya Allen started the inning with a single while Abi Brooks drew a walk. The first run was scored on a double to deep right field by Kayla Stephens. With the bases loaded and one out, Rhea Pavia hit a bases-clearing triple to score Brooks, Stephens and Mesi and push the score to 11-12. Andrea Rodriguez then hit a double to score Paiva to tie the game at 12-12. With two outs, Jaya Allen returned to the plate for the 2nd time in the inning and hit a double to score Rodriguez and take the 13-12 lead.
That was all the Blue Hawks would need despite the Warriors not going down easy in the bottom half of the inning. The Hawks finished the game with 15 hits and 1 error. Andrea Rodriquez led the way going 4 for 4 with 3 RBI's, Rhea Pavia finished 3 for 4 with 3 RBI's, and Abi Brooks and Whitney Mesi both had homeruns.
On the mound, Brooks pitched 5 innings giving up 1 earned run on 7 hits while striking out 3. Allen pitched 2 innings giving up 9 runs on 6 hits while walking 3 and striking out 1.
Dickinson State University 11, Waldorf University 5
The final game of the four game series against the Warroris of Waldorf University was played on Sunday March 24th. Jaya Allen got the start in the finale and pitched 3 innings giving up 3 runs on 8 hits while striking out 3. Abi Brooks came into relief and pitched the final 4 innings giving up 2 runs on 4 hits in the 11-5 victory.
The Blue Hawks led the entire way scoring 3 runs in the top of the first innings. Andrea Rodriguez led off the game with a double down the left field line followed by a Sonja Lawrence sacrifice bunt. Claire Shoffit came up and hit a single up the middle to give the Blue Hawks an early run lead. Jaya Allen followed Shoffit with a 2-run home-run to deep left field to notch the early 3-0 lead.
Like the previous three games, the Warriors would not go down easy. In the bottom half of the inning, they answered with a solo run of their own. Three back to back singles scored the Warriors lone run in the bottom of the first.
The Blue Hawks finished the game with 18 hits while the Warriors had 12 of their own. Sonja Lawrence and Claire Shoffit led the way both going 4-4 with a combined 6 RBI's. Julie Knight and Whitney Mesi each tabbed two hits apiece in the 11-5 victory.
Coach Fleury had this to say about the weekend:
"I am proud of how the kids kept fighting and didn't give up if we got down. It's tough enough to play a team 4 times in a row, let alone 3 games in one day. It's asking a lot from the athletes. Our offense put up some big numbers at the plate, something we haven't had in recent games, so that was good to see. We hit the ball hard and got some huge timely hits, one through nine. On the mound, our pitchers gave up hits - big hits, and struggled at times to find the umpire's zone. Both Jaya and Abi fought through it and worked together to help get us 3 wins on the weekend. Moving forward we need to eliminate our walks and errors because they always seem to find the scoreboard. Overall, it was a good weekend for us and we continue to get better."
The Blue Hawks move to 13-10 overall and 3-1 in NSAA Conference play. Next up the Blue Hawks are scheduled to play a double header on Saturday March 30th and again on Sunday March 31st against #11 ranked Valley City State in Valley City, ND.
