Kansas City Wins Both Against NDSU in the Opening Day of the Series

Friday, April 2

Kansas City, Mo.

12:00 PM

Kansas City

16-11, 1-4

North Dakota State University

7-18, 2-3

North Dakota State

Kansas City Roos

Kansas City Wins Both Against NDSU in the Opening Day of the Series

4/2/2021 10:14:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Final Box- Game 1 Final Box- Game 2

Hilbrenner homers and Hoveland and Stickel throw great games in the victories

Kansas City, MO – Kansas City Softball (13-15, 2-4) took the first two games of the four-game series from North Dakota State (7-19, 2-4) to earn their first two wins in Summit League conference play. These were big games for the Roos' as the Bison are an established program who has won 10 of the last 11 Summit League titles and were picked as the 2021 preseason favorites.

"You have to be most proud of the pitchers in a day like today where defense and offense didn't play to their potential," Head Coach Kerry Shaw said.

The Roos will look to come away with two more wins and the complete sweep of NDSU tomorrow, Saturday April 3 with a double-header scheduled for 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at the Urban Youth Academy in Kansas City, MO.

Game No. 1- Kansas City 6, NDSU 3
Lia Lombardini started the Roos' offense in the first inning with KC's first hit and RBI of the day. She brought home Kloe Hilbrenner who had reached on a fielder's choice and stole her way to third. Kansas City led 1-0 until the errors started to trickle in the third.

"After having to throw extra pitches due to errors," Shaw said. "Mia kept calm and threw her game even when things weren't going well on defense."

In a game with six errors between both teams, Kansas City's pitcher Mia Hoveland battled her way through and finished with zero earned runs and nine strikeouts on the day. That brought Hoveland's strikeout total to 120 on the season, ranking top fifteen nationally throughout Division I programs.

"North Dakota State made more errors than we did," Shae said. "We did enough to win but have to be better offensively."

Kansas City tied the game in the bottom of the fifth and a free run from the NDSU defense. The Roos took advantage of their last inning at the plate and capitalized on the Bison error. In the extended inning, Abby Sciara tripled down the line to notch an RBI and Katherine Karnatz brought Sciara in on a single to left.

Hoveland shut down NDSU's building two-out rally and struck out the final batter of the game in the 6-3 complete game win.

Game No. 2- Kansas City 2, NDSU 1 (8 innings)
A crucial homerun by Kloe Hilbrenner in the bottom of the fourth inning gave Roos their first hit of the game and the 1-0 lead. That run would prove critical in sending the game to extra innings in the 1-1 end of regulations.

"Hilbrenner's hit was everything for us in that second game," Shaw said. "It kept us in it, it was huge."

North Dakota State answered right back in the top of the fifth by stringing a few hits together and scoring their tying run on a sacrifice fly. Although the next play of the game, Sydney McQuinn made a diving stop in the hole and got the ball to first in time to shut down a potentially big inning for the Bison.

"Defensively we were pretty sharp in game two," Shaw said. "Faith had a big throw out at third base to prevent a triple and McQuinn had a few diving stops that would have led to runs for NDSU."

McQuinn and Faith Willis made huge plays on defense in the second game to keep the game in reach for the Roos' offense.

"Cam did everything in her power to keep us in it," Shaw said. "And she was battling through a very tight strike zone."

Camryn Stickel pitched all eight innings and earned a hard-fought win for Kansas City. She left nine Bison base runners stranded, giving up seven hits and adding three strikeouts to her resume.

The final inning was a full team effort. Ashley Thorne reached on an infield misplay then Karnatz singled on a beautiful bunt. Hilbrenner walked to load the bases and Lombardini drew a walk-off walk to score the game winning run. Lombardini leads the team in walks and her brilliant eye gave the Roos the 2-1 victory in extra innings.