South Dakota softball team picks up pair of wins

South Dakota softball team picks up pair of wins South Dakota pitchers tossed a pair of shutouts as the Coyotes won two games at the DakotaDome Softball Invite, which opened Saturday at the DakotaDome.

The Coyotes, which improved to 9-8 on the season, defeated Minnesota-Crookston, 8-0; and Upper Iowa, 1-0. USD pitchers Alisha Yowell and Angela Palma both had complete game shutouts at the tourney.

In the first game, Yowell improved to 4-3 on the season by tossing a three-hit shutout. Yowell, who also had three hits in four trips, had six strikeouts and one walk in seven innings of work. At the plate, Yowell had two RBIs, a run scored and a stolen base.

Also for South Dakota, Nicole Jones (Rapid City) had two hits in four trips to the plate, including her second HR of the season, and had a game-high three RBIs. Mesha Reynolds (Omaha, NE) also had two hits in four at bats. Reynolds also had a run scored.

South Dakota scored a pair of runs in the second inning and broke the game open with a five-run third inning before adding its final tally in the seventh inning. In the second inning, Krystal Kirwan (Omaha, NE) doubled and scored on Jones' two-out two-run home run. Reynolds opened the third inning with a single and advanced to second when Sarah Wrage (Cherokee, IA) reached on a fielder's choice.

Both runners advanced a base on Keri Starcevich's (Monroe, IA) bunt single. Both Reynolds and Wrage scored on Yowell's two-run single. After Yowell stole second base, Starcevich scored on a throwing error by UM-Crookston's catcher. Later in the inning, Yowell scored on a single by Kirwan, who scored on a sacrifice fly by Abby Poulter (Colfax, IA). In the inning, both Reynolds and Kirwan had a pair of hits.

USD scored its final run in the seventh inning when Amber Terry, who singled to reach first base, scored on a single by Jones.

Freshman Katie Swanson hit a game-winning, run-scoring single, which plated Mesha Reynolds, as South Dakota recorded the 1-0 win over Upper Iowa at the DakotaDome Invite.

In a pitcher's dual, USD's Palma improved to 3-3 on the season with a five-hit shutout. She had eight strikeouts and just one walk in going the distance. Upper Iowa's Angela Weber was the hard-luck loser, going 6 1/3 innings of three-hit pitching. She allowed just one run and had 10 strikeouts and 10 walks.

USD began its game-winning rally with one-out in the seventh inning as Palma walked and Kirwan also coaxed a walk from Weber. Then, Swanson (Omaha, NE) hit her game-winning hit as Reynolds, who was pinch-running for Palma, evaded a tag at home and scored to give USD the win, which is the Coyotes' fourth-straight victory.