Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ST. CLOUD, MINN. – The University of Sioux Falls Softball Team (23-25, 13-15) dropped a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference games against St. Cloud State on Friday (April 26) afternoon. Ashley Meyer hit her 20^th career homerun in the 7-2 game one loss before USF dropped a 1-0 decision despite solid pitching performances from Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag and Sydney Nieveen in game two.

With the two losses to SCSU, USF holds an eighth place spot in the NSIC standings with a 13-15 conference record. They sit just behind Upper Iowa, who is sporting a 13-15 conference record while just maintaining a lead over Southwest Minnesota State at 12-14 and University of Mary at 12-16.

USF will have a one day break before traveling to Minnesota Duluth (28-17, 19-7 NSIC) on Sunday (April 28) for the final regular season doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.

Game one: St. Cloud State 7, Sioux Falls 2
Senior Kerrigan Hoshaw got the start for USF and fell to 9-10 on the season behind a five inning effort where she gave up seven runs on nine total hits and issued four walks while striking out three SCSU batters. Van Der Zwaag relieved Hoshaw in the sixth inning and allowed just one hit and recorded one strikeout.

The USF offense was mostly held in check by SCSU senior pitcher Kate Kopeck (16-6 on the season) as they produced two runs on three hits. Meyer led USF with two hits in three at bats including a two-run homerun in the second inning. Meyer now has seven homers on the season and 19 in her career at USF. Lindsey Mossman recorded the other hit for the Cougars.

SCSU jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning after Morgan Emmans led off with a solo homerun followed by a Maya Keating single and stolen base. A walk and another stolen base put runners on second and third for Jasmin Estrada, who singled and drove in both runners.

USF responded with two runs in the top of the second after Emily Miller was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and later scored on the Meyer homerun.

SCSU scored once in the bottom of the second inning and three more in the fourth to put the game out of reach.

Game two: St. Cloud State 1, Sioux Falls 0
USF dropped a hard fought game two despite a pair of strong pitching performances from Van Der Zwaag and Nieveen, who allowed just three hits in 20 at bats for a SCSU team batting average of .150. Van Der Zwaag started for USF and fell to 1-4 on the season after three innings of work where she allowed one run on three hits and walked one batter while recording one strikeout. Nieveen came in for Van Der Zwaag in the fourth inning and pitched three innings of hitless softball. She recorded eight groundouts and one fly out in the nine batters she faced.

Francesca Mickelson led the USF offense with a pair of hits in three plate appearances including one double. Emily Miller and Van Der Zwaag each produced one hit in three at bats for the Cougars.

The lone run of the game came in the bottom of the third inning when Alexandra Pinkowski led off with a single then stole second and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs in the inning, Megan Conrads hit an RBI single that scored Pinkowski from third.