Wayne State used 19 hits in the opener to post a 7-5 win at Sioux Falls, but saw the host Cougars snap a 2-2 tie with three runs in the sixth inning of the second game for a 5-2 win over the Wildcats in Northern Sun Conference softball action Tuesday at Sherman Park in Sioux Falls, S.D.
The opener saw Wayne State pound out 19 hits, the most in a single game since April 14, 2015 at Sioux Falls, to take the first game of the doubleheader.
Wayne State built a 5-0 lead with a Jordyn Breitbarth sacrifice fly in the first, a two-run double by Melanie Alyea in the second and run-scoring singles by Blair Shanks and Monique Alyea in the third before the Cougars scored four in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 5-4.
Melanie Alyea came up with a two-run double in the fifth to make the lead 7-4. Sioux Falls came back with a run in the seventh and loaded the bases before reliever Natliah Hopkins got the final two outs to give Wayne State its first conference road win of the season.
Every position player had at least one hit to highlight the Wildcats’ 19-hit assault. Melanie Alyea finished 4-for-5 with two doubles and four RBI, Monique Alyea was 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored while Katelyn Wobken was 3-for-5 with a triple and a run scored. Abbie Hix, Jenna Stewart and Blair Shanks each went 2-for-4 with two singles apiece.
Riley Vanderveen got her first win of the season, pitching 6 1/3 innings. Hopkins came on in relief in the seventh and notched her first save of the season.
In the nightcap, the Cougars scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to snap a 2-2 tie and salvage the doubleheader split.
Sioux Falls took a 1-0 lead in the first, but Wayne State tied it in the top of the third when Wobken was hit by a pitch and later scored on Monique Alyea’s single to center.
Wayne State took a 2-1 lead in the fifth when Melanie Alyea doubled and scored on a Rachel Shumaker double, but the Cougars came back in the bottom of the inning to tie the game and used a two-run homer and an RBI single in the sixth to come away with the win.
Shumaker finished 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles and one RBI, and Melanie Alyea went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Wobken, Monique Alyea and Alyssa Schropp added singles. Hopkins took the loss in the circle.
The Wildcats (8-30, 2-12 NSIC) will be on the road this weekend for NSIC doubleheaders at MSU Moorhead Friday at 1 p.m. and Northern State Saturday at 12 p.m.
