The UND softball team kicked off Summit League play this past week with conference rivals Omaha. The Hawks split the series, losing the first two games on Saturday but sweeping both bouts on Sunday.  

Omaha started the first game off strong, scoring four runs in the bottom of the first on four hits and swift baserunning. The rest of the game remained scoreless, with the closest UND came to scoring was the top of the fifth, with the final out being tallied leaving the bases loaded. 

Despite giving up 4 runs in the first frame, Hawk’s pitcher Jannay Jones bounced back, giving up only 1 hit in the following six innings and yielding zero runs.  

The final game on Saturday started off much like the first, with UNO scoring two runs in the opening inning. The Hawks immediately responded in the following frame when Madison Peterson homered to left field, cutting UND’s deficit in half 2-1. 

The Mavericks continued to build their lead in the third, picking up 3 runs on a 3-run home run to put them up 5-1. UNO tacked on another run in the fourth and the Hawks were finally able to respond in the fifth, when Madi Moore homered to centerfield, doubling UND’s score to 2-6.  

Omaha added one more run in the sixth, going up 7-2 and UND couldn’t respond in the seventh inning, giving the Mavericks the win 7-2, and put them up 2-0 in the series. Hawk’s pitcher Nikki Pica was handed the loss, and North Dakota dropped to 9-19 after the day.  

Sunday’s first game started off slow, with neither team scoring in the opening innings. The Fighting Hawks were the first to score, putting up a run in the third inning on a throwing error from UNO. The Mavericks were unable to respond for the rest of the game, not having a single runner reach third base, giving UND the win 1-0. 

North Dakota ace Adrianna Dilal allowed only two hits and three walks while racking up 5 strikeouts in 7 innings. This win broke the Hawk’s 7 games losing streak and gave them their 10th win of the season.  

UND continued their dominant pitching into the next game. Lauren Field yielded only four hits and a walk, shutting down the UNO offense in a complete shutout.  

North Dakota’s offense only notched 1 hit in the entire game, coming from Alexys Compos in the third inning, but earned 5 walks that led to UND scoring 2 runs.  

The Mavericks advanced runners to third only twice, once in the third inning and once in the seventh, and were unable to score both times, giving UND the win 2-0 and leveling the series at 2-2.  

This series put North Dakota at 10-19 overall and 2-2 in Summit League play. The Hawks will continue conference play this weekend against the South Dakota State Jackrabbits in Vermillion, SD. 

Alex Mailes is a Dakota Student Sports Writer. He can be reached at [email protected]