Aberdeen, S.D. – The Northern State University softball team opened the 2018 season with a spilt against Dakota Wesleyan and Valley City State from the Presentation College Dome Classic. The Wolves defeated the Tigers 3-1, and fell to the Vikings 6-5 in five innings.
 
The Wolves battled from behind in the first game of the day, as Dakota Wesleyan notched one run in the second. NSU answered in the third grabbing the 2-1 lead off the bat of sophomore Kaitlyn King. King doubled to center, scoring Shayla Steinley and Emma Treveer who each reached base on infield singles.
 
Northern scored their final run of the game in the fourth. Makenzie Merritt led off the inning with a walk, and was pinch run for by Cassidy Schaar. Schaar came around to score two at-bats later, as Steinley singled to the shortstop.
 
Steinley led the team going 3-for-4 with one run scored and one RBI, as the only Wolf with multiple hits. Rachel Reinke and Emma Treveer each added singles, while King notched a double.
 
Merritt started on the bump for the Wolves throwing five complete innings in the first win of her career. The freshman gave up just three hits and one earned run. Junior Jamie Fisher entered in relief, throwing the final two innings and earning the save with just one hit.
 
The Wolves went into extra innings against the Vikings of Valley City State, ultimately falling in the tenth. Northern scored first off a Katie Dawson homerun in their first at-bats of the game. The Wolves held a 4-0 lead through the first three innings, notching two more runs in the third. Valley chipped away at the lead in regulation, scoring two runs in the fourth, and one in the fifth and seventh.
 
The Vikings took the lead in the top off the eighth, however Dawson was not finished in the bottom half of the inning notching her second homerun of the game, knotting things up at 5-all. The two teams went scoreless through the ninth, and the Vikings were able to push across a run in the tenth sealing the victory.
 
Jenna Helgeson, Jamie Fisher, and Dawson each led the team with two hits. Dawson went 2-for-3 with two runs scored, four RBI, and a sacrifice fly, while Fisher went 2-for-5 with a double. Steinley, King, Courtney Sjerven, and Katie Uittenbogaard added a hit apiece for the Wolves.
 
Fisher suffered the loss on the mound, throwing all ten innings for the Wolves. She gave up six earned runs on 14 hits with one strikeout.
 
Northern returns to action tomorrow against Minnesota Crookston and Dakota State at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. from the PC Dome.