Saint Cloud, MN – The University of Sioux Falls softball team fell to SCSU in both games on Saturday afternoon.
 
Game 1: USF 3, SCSU 8
 
The Cougars fell to St. Cloud State by a score of 8-3 on Saturday. 
 
The Cougars got on the board early with a Kylan Straight single, followed by a stolen base by the speedster, and a Kait Van Der Zwaag RBI single to take an early 1-0 lead. The Huskies answered back in the bottom of the 2^nd inning with a home run to tie the game up at one apiece.
 
The bottom of the 3^rd inning came and SCSU hit two doubles in the inning and scoring two runs to take a 3-2 lead going into the 4^th. The Cougars answered back with one run of their own on a Kylie Madrid home run to center field to make it a 3-2 ball game. The Huskies answered back in the bottom half with an extra base hit, bringing in two runs to extend the lead to 5-2 after 4 innings of play.
 
In the top of the 5^th inning, USF freshman Taryn Wagner hit the second home run of the day for the Cougars with a bomb to left field to bring across the 3^rd run of the game. The Huskies continued to answer back in Game 1 as they had a double and single that scored the sixth and seventh run of the game ball game for SCSU. The Huskies tacked on another insurance run in the bottom of the 6^th inning to take a 8-3 lead and that score concluded the contest.
 
The Cougars finished with seven hits by seven different hitters on the day. Lexie Swift, Kylan Straight, Kylie Madrid, Kait Van Der Zwaag, Reese Holzhueter, Emma Barta, and Taryn Wagner all ended up with base knocks. From the circle, Hanna Cress pitched four innings and took the loss as she surrendered nine hits, six earned runs, two walks, and punched out four SCSU hitters on the day.
 
Game 2: USF 4, SCSU 5
 
USF took a tough loss against St. Cloud State by a score of 4-5 on Saturday afternoon in Game 2 of the doubleheader.
 
In the 2^nd inning, the Cougars struck first which started with Kylie Madrid drawing a walk, followed by a Lexie Swift double, a Kennedy Thomas walk loaded the bases, and Megan Lawson bringing in the first run of the game on an RBI sacrifice fly, scoring Madrid to take a 1-0 lead.
 
The pitchers from both teams kept the game in check until USF tacked on another run in the top of the 5^th inning on a Kylan Straight RBI single, scoring Megan Lawson to make it a 2-0 ball game. Heading into the sixth inning, senior Kylie Madrid extended the lead with a two-run blast, scoring Jayden Haley to make it a 4-0 score for USF.
 
The Huskies answered back in the bottom of the 6^th inning with a two-run home run to cut the lead in half, a 4-2 lead for the Cougars going into the final frame. After a bases loaded threat with one out in the bottom of the 7^th inning by the Huskies, SCSU brought across three runs in the final frame, a walk-off victory by a score of 5-4.
 
The Cougars finished with five hits on the day led by senior Kylan Straight with two, followed by Kylie Madrid, Lexie Swift, and Megan Lawson with one hit apiece. From the circle, Kait Van Der Zwaag took the loss surrendered eight hits, five earned runs, three walks, and striking out three Huskies on the day. 
 
Up Next

The Cougars are back in action on Sunday as they'll head to Duluth to take on the University of Minnesota-Duluth for a two game set. Follow USF Softball on twitter and Instagram for updates throughout the weekend.