For pitcher Jackie Albrecht, getting the second run-less game of UND’s sweep over NDSU felt like a long time coming.  

“I know throughout the season we’ve allowed runs in every game, and that gets hard; you have to keep your head up and keep going,” Albrecht said. “So finally, we have two shutouts in a weekend, and that’s awesome.”  

The University of North Dakota completed their sweep of North Dakota State University with a 4-0 victory on Sunday, April 22. It was their second game, holding NDSU to zero runs after their second victory over NDSU on Saturday, April 21.  

Unlike their prior two victories over the Bison, both won in the bottom of the sixth inning, UND took their four-run lead in the bottom of the first and held onto it. In the bottom of the sixth, with only one out and the bases loaded, Cassie Castaneda flied out, but Johanna Rodriguez ran home to open the scoring for UND. With two outs and two runners on base, Katelyn Neumayer hit the ball over the fence for a three-run home run, giving UND a 4-0 lead. Mariah Peters grounded out to end the explosive inning for UND, and NDSU decided to change pitchers for the rest of the game.  

Because of the early lead, UND only had one job which was shutting down any offense and holding down the lead. Now, for the bigger test, hold a lead for more than one inning.  

Albrecht, who pitched in UND’s Saturday 5-4 victory, allowed only three hits in Sunday’s game.  

She said a key to her performance in Sunday’s game was adjusting based on her knowledge of these teams after playing them multiple times.  

Beyond Albrecht’s excellent pitching, UND also played excellent defense to keep NDSU off the scoreboard even when they managed to get on base. UND had only one error at the top of the seventh, which resulted in only a single.  

While Coach Jordan Stevens says he is looking forward to next week’s games, he is also thrilled with the way the girls played.  

“Happy for our girls the way they played this weekend to come out and close it down,” he said. “It’s always a tough game against a quality ballclub, but we played really well to get to complete game shutouts to close the series.”  

Maeve Hushman is a Dakota Student Sports Reporter. She can be reached at [email protected].