Bakke enjoys big weekend on mound and at plate
After 43 consecutive road games, the NDSU softball team came home for a three-game series against Missouri-Kansas City last weekend.
“It’s tough to have home softball games in Fargo with so many games and such a short season,” said NDSU softball coach Darren Mueller. “We are glad that the weather was as good as it could be, and we could go out there and play in front of our home crowd.”
NDSU used the home environment to its advantage and swept a three-game series from UMKC.
On Sunday, Bakke pitched a one-hitter to lead the Bison to a 9-1 victory. It was her second consecutive game allowing just one hit.
In five innings, UMKC mustered only one hit off of Bakke. She didn’t allow a hit through the first three innings.
The no-hitter was broken up in fourth inning, when the Bison allowed an unearned run to score. Bakke finished the game giving up one hit and no earned runs.
“Allison has been pitching very well as of late for us,” Mueller said. “We weren’t exactly sure who our No. 1 pitcher would be at the beginning of the season. But the way she had been throwing, we’ve had no choice but to make her our ace.”
Bakke’s pitching performance was not to be out-done by her hitting.
In the bottom of the second inning Sunday, Bakke singled up the middle to keep a Bison rally going that would equate in two runs.
In the bottom of the third inning, Bakke hit a bases-clearing double to centerfield with two outs. She would later score on a Jennifer Morse single.
The Bison ended up scoring seven runs in the third inning.
Nine runs would be all that Bakke and the NDSU defense needed to shut down the UMKC offense, which only had two runners reach base the entire game.
NDSU won both games over UMKC on Saturday. NDSU won the first game 8-0 and the second 11-3.
In the second game, Kelly Catrell hit two homeruns early to boost NDSU’s lead to 5-0.
The Kangaroos would score three runs in the fourth inning to make the game close.
But NDSU came back with six runs in the bottom of the fourth to make the score 11-3. Andi Padilla shut down UMKC in the top of the fifth to end the game by eight-run rule.
The Bison’s original home opener was scheduled for April 5 against Iowa State. The games moved down to Ames, Iowa because of snow in Fargo.
The Bison (26-19) will travel to Minneapolis to take on Minnesota (13-16) on Thursday, and will back home April 22, for a doubleheader versus Valparaiso.