ABERDEEN, S.D. (VCSUVikings.com)– The No. 11-ranked Valley City State softball team finished off a dominating series sweep Monday with two more wins against Dakota State University.
Playing inside the Presentation College Dome, the Vikings downed the Trojans 7-3 in game one on Monday, and then finished the four-game sweep with an 8-1 victory in game two. VCSU won Sunday’s games by scores of 5-1 and 6-0.
With the four-game sweep to start NSAA play, the Vikings are now 24-1 overall and 4-0 in conference play. VCSU was the only NSAA team to go 4-0 in the first weekend of conference games. Bellevue, Dickinson State and Viterbo University all went 3-1 to start the NSAA schedule.
Valley City State outscored Dakota State 26-5 in the four-game series. In 28 innings, VCSU allowed just eight hits and committed only two errors. Three different pitchers earned wins and pitched at least eight innings, and 11 different Vikings recorded hits in the series.
Up next: Valley City State will face Dickinson State in a four-game conference series this weekend. VCSU was originally scheduled to host the four-game series, but the final date, time and location of the games are still being determined due to the weather forecast.
VCSU 7, Dakota State 3
Emilee Wilson pitched five shutout innings in relief Monday as the Vikings opened the doubleheader with a 7-3 victory.
Wilson came on with a 6-3 lead in the bottom of the third inning and shut the door the rest of the way to earn her seventh win of the season. The freshman right-hander recorded 10 straight outs to start her appearance and gave up just one hit, walked only one batter and struck out nine over her five innings of work.
Valley City State put up most of its runs early in the game, scoring four in the first inning and two more in the second. Marissa Hawkins’ two-run single highlighted the big first inning, and Riley Perryman had a two-run double in the second inning. Hawkins added an RBI single in the fourth inning for VCSU’s final run.
The freshman Hawkins had a big game at the plate, finishing 3-for-4 with a run and four RBIs – giving her a team-high 25 RBIs through 24 games. Perryman and Tatum Lundin each collected two hits and an RBI. VCSU finished with 11 total hits, compared to just four by Dakota State.
Emily Smith started in the circle for VCSU and went two innings. She gave up three runs and three hits while striking out two. After VCSU put up four runs in the top of the first inning, Dakota State answered back in the bottom half with a three-run home run by Nicole Stewart. That’s all the offense the Trojans could muster.
VCSU 8, Dakota State 1
Amber Stewart and Nichole Reed combined to pitch a one-hitter in game two of the doubleheader, and the Vikings completed the series sweep with an 8-1 victory.
Stewart started and earned the win as she went five innings in the circle, giving up just one hit and one run. She walked one batter and and struck out two. Reed came on to finish the game with two perfect innings in relief.
The Vikings struck first with a pair of runs in the top of the first inning and then broke the game open with three more runs in the third inning. Renee Snyder’s two-run double scored Joelle Aiello and Voni Culp for a 4-0 lead, and then Marissa Hawkins singled home Snyder to make it 5-0.
Dakota State would trim the Viking lead to 5-1 but VCSU added two more runs in the sixth inning and Kailee Fraser had a pinch-hit home run in the seventh to cap the Viking scoring.
Aiello finished 3-for-4 at the plate and scored a pair of runs to lead VCSU’s offensive attack. The Vikings finished with 11 hits and no errors. Voni Culp was 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI, and Snyder was 2-for-3, scored twice and drove in two.