VALLEY CITY, N.D. (vcsuvikings.com) – The Valley City State softball team tallied 30 hits Sunday and outscored Presentation College 33-1 in the Senior Day doubleheader sweep.
Valley City State outscored the Saints 54-1 in the four-game series sweep over the weekend. All four games were decided by mercy rule and strong pitching from seniors Amber Stewart and Emily Smith allowed just one run on six hits throughout the weekend.
The Vikings smashed six home runs Sunday – including three from junior Jessica Husband – to and extend VCSU’s winning streak to 15 games.
Valley City State finishes the regular season with a 32-5 overall record and a 25-2 conference record. Presentation finishes the season with a 7-32 record overall and a 6-21 record in the NSAA.
UP NEXT: Valley City State competes at the NSAA Softball Tournament May 6-9 in Bellevue, Neb. The regular season champions VCSU will rematch against the No. 8 seed Presentation College on Thursday at 12:30 p.m.
VCSU 16, Presentation 1 (5 innings)
Valley City State opened Sunday’s game with an eight-run first inning en route to the 5-inning victory. Joelle Aiello and Anne-Elise Gest each walked to open the game, followed by an RBI single from Marissa Hawkins. Makenzee Stone added an RBI double and scored on a Saints error. Riley Perryman and Sierra Crocker each recorded an RBI single to make it 5-0. Then, Andrea Rodriguez walked followed by a three-run blast from Jessica Husband to cap the eight-run inning.
Crocker added a two-out, three-run homer over the centerfield fence in the second inning to expand the Viking lead. Husband and Gest each recorded a solo shot in the third to make it 13-1, and Gest added a two-run double in the fourth. Senior Keana Harmon recorded an RBI single in the fourth inning to round out the scoring for VCSU.
Senior pitcher Amber Stewart picked up her fifth shutout of the season in game one of Sunday’s doubleheader, allowing just two hits and striking out eight batters. She did not walk a batter. Presentation collected two hits in the second inning, including an RBI single from Lorenna Hernandez. Stewart retired the next 10 batters to finish the game in five innings.
VCSU 17, Presentation 0 (5 innings)
Valley City State continued its momentum into game two, collecting 16 hits in another 5-inning game. Aiello and Gest each walked to open the game and Marissa Hawkins powered a three-run homer to left-center field to open a 3-0 lead. Crocker scored Perryman with an RBI single to round out the first inning.
The Vikings then opened the third inning with four straight singles and a Presentation error to lead 7-0. With a runner on first and two outs, Husband singled and Aiello was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Gest followed with a two-run single and stole second base to put runners on second and third. Hawkins then recorded a two-run single to make it 11-0. A double from Stone scored Hawkins and a single from Perryman scored Stone to lead 13-0 after three innings.
Husband hit another solo homer – and her third home run of the day – in the fourth inning, followed by an RBI single from Harmon and a two-run single from Stone.
Hawkins and Perryman each went 3-for-3 at the plate. Hawkins scored three runs and drove in five while Perryman scored two and drove in two. Stone was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Aiello scored three runs for the Vikings.
Senior pitcher Emily Smith got the win, allowing just one hit over five innings. She did not walk a batter and struck out six. It is her 19th win of the season and seventh shutout this year.
Presentation’s Camille Vestal doubled in the first inning for the Saints’ only hit of the game.