MINOT, N.D. – Held to nine hits in their doubleheader, University of Sioux Falls Softball dropped two Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games at Minot State on Friday afternoon. The Cougars (21-10, 8-8 NSIC) were held to three hits in game one, suffering a 5-1 loss. In game two, USF drew within one run on RBI from Britni Broussard and Sydney Nieveen but were handed a 4-2 loss. The Cougars travel to University of Mary for a doubleheader at 11 a.m., closing their four-game road trip.
 
Minot State 5, Sioux Falls 1
Sioux Falls was held to three hits and managed just one run in the doubleheader opener with Minot State, falling 5-1. Emma Schifferle went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Cougars and Jasmine Ragusi saw her seven-game hitting streak come to a close, but drove in a run on a sacrifice fly.
 
After two scoreless innings, Minot State scored a pair of runs in the third then added another in the fourth. With two more runs in the fifth inning, MSU stretched their lead to 5-0 before the Cougars were able to put a dent in their deficit.
 
Schifferle led off the top of the sixth inning with a single and advanced into scoring position on a passed ball. Sydney Nieveen pushed her to third on a groundout before Ragusi drove in the Cougars' only run with a sac fly to rightfield.
 
Minot State 4, Sioux Falls 2
The Cougars doubled their offense with six hits in game two, but Minot State pushed across four runs to sweep the doubleheader with a 4-2 victory. Britni Broussard went 2-for-3 at the plate with an RBI to lead the USF offense in game two.
 
Minot State broke the game open in the second inning, using a double and homerun to build a 3-0 lead. Courtney Mathews came in to pitch and kept the Beavers at bay for the remainder of the second then tossed shutout third and fourth innings.
 
With three hits in the fifth inning, Sioux Falls cut into MSU's lead with two runs. Kenna Heath led off with a double and Emily Hove followed with a single to set up Broussard for an RBI single through the left side. With two outs, Sydney Nieveen drove in one more run on a sacrifice fly to left field.
 
Minot State answered with a run in the bottom half of the inning to pad their lead and USF was held hitless in the final two frames of their 4-2 loss.