FARGO, N.D. – Despite suffering their first Summit League loss Sunday, the IUPUI softball team (15-21, 5-1) enjoyed an otherwise successful weekend, dropping the series finale 4-7 against North Dakota State (16-23, 4-2). The Jags guaranteed a series victory by taking the first two games Saturday, a historic accomplishment in a variety of facets.
Despite taking the loss,
Erica Tharp pitched an adequate game in capping off a strong weekend, as the sophomore six innings in a complete game effort. She surrendered four earned runs on nine hits, striking out three and walking one. For the weekend, the finished with a 2-1 record, throwing 16.1 innings with 10 strikeouts.
Delaney Thompson came up with possibly the biggest hit of her young career, as the freshman shortstop went 2-for-3 with a grand slam.
Maggie Armstrong, who was a late inning replacement, went 2-for-2 with a run scored.
Taylor Chitwood went 1-for-2 with a double and a run scored. She finished the weekend hitting .444, hitting a homerun and plating three RBIs.
After seeing the Bison strike for single runs in the first and third innings, IUPUI got the offense going in the top half of the fourth. After a leadoff walk was issued to Chitwood, the next batter reached on a fielding error by the defense of North Dakota State. With two runners on, Armstrong took advantage of her first plate appearance and singled down the right field line. With the bases loaded and two outs following a strikeout, Thompson stepped in and promptly unloaded a deep fly to right field, emptying the bases for IUPUI.
A solo homerun in the bottom of the fourth and a sacrifice fly in the fifth allowed the Bison to tie the game at 4-4. The wheels came off for the Jags in the sixth, as a single, an error and a sacrifice bunt gave North Dakota State second and third with only one out. The next batter uncorked a three-run homerun to left center field, as the Bison reclaimed the lead. That score would hold up, as IUPUI was blanked in the seventh.
The Jags will take to the road Wednesday (April 12) for a single game with Notre Dame, before returning to Summit League play Friday and Saturday (April 14-15) in Macomb, Illinois against the Western Illinois Leathernecks.
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