SIOUX FALLS – Another strong outing in the circle from Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag and clutch hitting from Kylan Straight and Damaris Cuevas lifted the University of Sioux Falls Softball Team (7-9, 1-1 NSIC) to a 5-3 win over Southwest Minnesota State (10-6, 1-1 NSIC) in game two of an NSIC doubleheader on Monday (March 29) at Sherman Park.

With a 1-1 split, USF and SMSU played their first league games since 2019 as the 2020 season was canceled due to the CoVID-19 pandemic. Today's games were also the first home games since April 24, 2019 at Sherman Park (Minnesota State). 

In the opener  today, USF lost a 3-1 pitcher's duel to SMSU. The doubleheader split today was the fourth straight split of doubleheaders over the past two weeks for USF.

"We are getting pretty good at this split business but I am proud of how our kids responded in game two after a very slow start to the day," said USF Head Coach Shannon Pivovar, whose team will travel to Minnesota Crookston for a doubleheader on April 2 and Bemidji State for another on April 3. "All the way around in game one, we were a step slow and behind. Our players took it upon themselves to find some internal motivation and put more pressure on SMSU in all facets," said Pivovar.

She continued: "Kait (Van Der Zwaag) was great on the mound and Mika (Rodriguez) was game-changing defensively (at shortstop). Without those two leading our defensive charge the outcome could have been completely different. Our bats strung some hits together and we rallied for a lot of runs to close the day," she said.

On the day, USF hit .234 as a team as Kylie Madrid was 2-of-3 for a .667 mark and Damaris Cuevas, who was 4-of-7 with a double, two RBI and five total bases, hit .571 with a .714 slugging. As a result, she is now hitting .575 on the season. Kylan Straight also had two hits, two runs and two RBIs during the doubleheader.

In the circle, USF was superb with a 2.00 earned run average with just four earned runs allowed in 14 innings and 10 strikeouts against one walk.

GAME 1 – SMSU 3 USF 1
In the pitcher's duel, Megan Cull outpitched USF's Hanna Cress in a 3-1 decision. USF was limited to five hits with two by Damaris Cuevas and a hit and RBI from Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag.
Cress (4-5) allowed two earned runs and nine hits of 6 1/3 innings as she had three strikeouts and no free passes. Cull (6-1) won her sixth game by throwing a complete game five-hitter. She had nine strikeouts and walked two batters.

Neither team pushed across a run until SMSU scored a single tally in the sixth inning. Then, they added two runs in the seven inning as Bailey Johnson had a two-run single. Johnson and Emma Grote had two hits for SMSU.

USF rallied in the seventh inning as Cuevas opened the inning with a double and pinch runner Emma Spizzirri scored on Van Der Zwaag's run-scoring single to left field. Pinch hitter Kylie Madrid followed with a single. After a groundout, both runners advanced a base. However, USF was unable to bring home the potential tying runs in the final two at bats.
 
Game 2 – USF 5 SMSU 3
USF, which had two hits from Kylan Straight and Damaris Cuevas and a strong pitching outing from Kaitlyn Van Der Zwaag, turned the tables in game two with a 5-3 decision over SMSU.

After SMSU scored in the second inning, USF scored two runs in the fifth frame and three more in the sixth inning to take a 5-2 lead. SMSU added a single run in the seventh inning.

Van Der Zwaag moved to 3-3 with a complete-game seven-hitter. She allowed seven hits and two earned runs with seven strikeouts and just a walk in throwing 84 pitches to 31 batters. Allison Christians (2-2) took the loss for SMSU as she allowed four hits and two earned runs in five innings with five strikeouts and four walks.

 As for Straight and Cuevas, they both had two hits and two RBI. All 13 hits between the two teams were singles.

In the second inning, Kaitlin Hentges reached on an error and advanced to second, scoring on a single to center field by Molly Bull as SMSU took a 1-0 lead. However, Van Der Zwaag kept SMSU at bay most of the game, allowing just single runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

USF took the lead in the fifth inning after Straight reached on an error, stole second and scored on a run-scoring single by Cuevas, who advanced to second on the throw. Spizzirri, pinch-running for Cuevas, scored on a single and error by SMSU as USF took a 2-1 lead.

In the sixth inning, Kennedy Thomas walked and was replaced by pinch runner Peyton Senger, who advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on Cassie Van Beek's single. After Van Beek stole second, Straight's run-scoring single brought home Van Beek and Senger. With two out, Cuevas singled to bring home Straight as the Cougars tallied three runs on three hits and broke out to a 5-2 lead. In the seventh inning, SMSU scored  an unearned run and then with the bases loaded, Van Der Zwaag struck out Jillian Noel to end the game.