South Dakota Highlights I Omaha Highlights I Photo Gallery

FARGO, N.D. - The run in the Summit League tournament continues for the six-seeded Jaguars after crushing their way past fourth-seeded South Dakota 12-5 in an elimination game. The Jags scored 10 runs in the final three frames to keep the season alive.

"Anything can happen in this part of the year. It is what makes it great," said head coach Amanada Rivera. "If we play our best ball the sky is the limit. We don't have another game. We have to play in the moment or its over."

After losing to Omaha and ending up in the loser's bracket, things started off shaky for the Jags against South Dakota. Yvon Minogue, who had five home runs in her first two games of the tournament, took Nickole Finch deep three pitches in to the game to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead.

That lead would not last long as Taylor Chitwood belted a home run to center field two at bats after an Ali Mosier walk to give the Jags the 2-1 lead. 

In the third, South Dakota regained the lead with a lead off home run and another solo shot two batters later.

Down 3-2, the Jags got offense from two unlikely sources. In the bottom of the fourth, with two outs and a runner on, Ashley Ousley got ahold of a Rachel Cue pitch and drove it just over the center field fence for the first home run of her career to give the Jags a 4-3 lead.

"After my first at-bat striking out, I just came up and swung as hard as I could," said Ousley. "I didn't think it was out at first. Its really exciting. Being in Fargo is a totally different feeling and the energy changed after. It was something I think we really needed."

In the fifth, the Jags extended the lead when freshman Kristin London pinch hit for Morgan Schlobohm after the first two batters of the inning reached. London ripped a ball down the left field line for a double bringing home Delilah Wright and moving Mosier to third. Chitwood got her third RBI of the evening with a bloop single to center to score Mosier. Later in the inning, Roni Patterson grounded out but brought home a run to make the score 7-3.

"Any time we have a team win like that, it is awesome," said Rivera. "It is great to see people step up and get the job done. I am happy and excited for [Ousley and London] and it gives them confidence when they get back up in that situation again." 

South Dakota got two back in the top of the sixth with a two run single but the Jags opened up the game in the bottom of the inning. 

It started when Chitwood's drive to right field bounced off the right fielder's glove and brought home two runs and put Chitwood on second. In the next at-bat, Maggie Good hammered a line shot home run to deep right center for two more runs. The next batter, Patterson followed suit crushing a ball to center that ended up on the track beyond the stadium.

"We know how this works in Fargo because it seems to happen every year," said Good. "We wanted to get back at South Dakota because they took us out last year."

After Finch was removed in the third, Brooke Boetjer was solid for the Jags in relief, picking up the win while striking out five and only giving up three runs. 

With the win the Jags move on and will take on the loser of North Dakota State and Omaha in the consolation bracket championship game with first pitch scheduled for 3:30 PM CT.


Omaha 6 - IUPUI 1

Omaha jumped on starter Brooke Boetjer early after two singles put runners on first and second with only one out. A grounder up the middle was bobbled by Morgan Schlobohm and allowed the first run of the game to score. 

Two batters later a double to the left center field wall brought home two more runs and the Mavericks had a 3-0 lead after the first frame.

Boetjer's day came to an early end in the second after a lead off walk. Amanda Rivera made the switch to Kaitlynn Moody to try to keep the Mavs offense at bay.

Moody was solid in the circle for the Jags, finishing with eight strikeouts over four innings pitched.

Omaha extended its lead in the fourth on a solo home run by Lia Mancuso. Later in the inning a passed ball by Roni Patterson allowed the fifth Omaha run to come across the plate. Mancuso added another run in the sixth on her second home run of the day.

IUPUI's offense was dominated by Omaha starter Laura Roecker. Roecker threw a complete game and finished with a career high 11 strikeouts that always seemed to happen at the biggest moments.

It wasn't that the Jags were without chances to score, but could not capitalize on opportunities. IUPUI went 4-18 with runners on base and 1-12 with runners in scoring position.

In the second inning, Moody singled up the middle and moved to second on a wild pitch, but a strikeout by Ashley Ousley ended the inning.

The Jags put another runner on second in the third after a Schlobohm bunt single moved Sarah Lawrence but another strikeout ended any threat. 

Patterson got to third in the fourth after she doubled earlier in the inning but Roecker induced a groundout to keep the Jags off the board.

The best chance for the Jags came in the sixth as Maggie Good singled to lead off the inning. Patterson was hit by a pitch and after two outs Lawrence walked to lead the bases, but a strikeout by Delilah Wright kept the Jags off the board. 

The Jags finally broke through in the seventh on an RBI double by Patterson but that was all Roecker would allow as the Jags fell in to the loser's bracket with the 6-1 defeat.