FARGO, N.D. – A heartbreaking way to see their tournament run end, the IUPUI softball team (23-29) was defeated twice Saturday (May 13) by North Dakota State, falling 4-13 in the first game before dropping a tough 3-5 winner-take-all second game. The Jags landed four players on the Summit League All-Tournament team.
Roni Patterson,
Taylor Chitwood,
Delaney Thompson and
Mandy Dallas were named All-Tournament selections after outstanding individual performances that led the Jags to their second-ever championship game appearance. Patterson led the pack with a .571 batting average, as the senior was outstanding throughout the course of four games. She went 8-for-14 with two doubles, a homerun and six RBIs, also walking twice for a .625 on-base percentage. Thompson really stepped up in crucial moments and had some stellar defensive plays, as the first-year shortstop batted .462 with a double, two homeruns and six RBIs. She had a 1.000 slugging percentage and led her team with 14 defensive assists.
Chitwood also turned in a solid bat with a .357 average, going 5-for-14 with a triple, two homeruns and four RBIs. She was also walked once and was hit by a pitch, raising her on-base percentage to .438. Dallas rounded out the group, hitting .308 on a 4-for-13 tournament showing, clubbing two homeruns with five RBIs. Both long balls came in a gritty 11-10 win for the Jags against South Dakota.
Four games yielded nine homeruns and 26 RBIs for the Jags, as they were hot-handed at the plate with a .311 cumulative batting average. They torched opposing pitching staffs with a 6.58 ERA, but were limited themselves in their ability to stop offenses. The Jags committed seven fielding errors which led to five unearned runs, while the pitching staff had a 7.00 ERA. Opposing hitters swung a .353 average against, which included 11 doubles and five homeruns.
The winning run came across to score before the Jags were able to record an out in the first game, as the Bison shocked the Jags with five runs in the top of the first inning. North Dakota State was able to score five more runs over the next two innings, putting the Jags in a deep hole despite their offensive efforts. Thompson and
McKenzie Loge both hit solo homeruns in the bottom of the second inning, at the time making it a 2-6 game. A double from Loge in the fifth inning followed by a fielding error tallied another run for the Jags, followed by a pinch-hit RBI double from
Kristin London in the sixth. Three more runs in the top of the seventh buried IUPUI however, as they saw the game end 4-13.
Game two started with a bang as
Alyssa Matson doubled down the left field line in the top of the first, followed by an RBI triple from Chitwood to make it a 1-0 game. Patterson then singled, scoring Chitwood from third and putting a runner on. After a walk and two outs, Dallas came up and hit a bloop single that plated another run for IUPUI, putting the team up 3-0.
The Bison came roaring back however, scoring two runs in the bottom of the second and another in the fourth to tie the game. With the IUPUI bats silenced, North Dakota State scored twice in the bottom of the fifth on two hits, the only scores they'd need. The Bison pitcher recorded 18-straight outs, inducing five-straight 1-2-3 innings to end the dream run.
With the loss, IUPUI will now await its fate as the season has not come to an end. Having won the Summit League regular season title, the Jags automatically qualified for the newly implemented National Invitational Softball Championship (NISC), and will advance beyond the Summit League Tournament for the first time in program history. Brackets and game locations will be announced following the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday, which begins at 10 p.m. EST. The NISC will be revealed immediately following.
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