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Valley City\u00a0 (VCSU)\u2013 Emily Smith<\/a>, the North Star Softball Pitcher-of-the-Year, shut down No. 4 seed Dickinson State (N.D.), propelling the top-seed and nationally-ranked No. 7 Valley City State (N.D.) to the championship series with an 8-0 six-inning mercy rule victory Friday evening at VCSU Softball Complex.<\/p>\n The victory set up the showdown of the North Star Athletic Association conference’s top two teams in the championship’s best-of-three series, which starts on Saturday at 12 noon versus No. 2 seed Bellevue (Neb).\u00a0 The Vikings and the Bruins are both currently over 10-game winning streak, with VCSU winning 16 consecutive games and BU on a 14-game winning streak.<\/p>\n Smith (W, 30-1) limited the Blue Hawks \u2013 who won the conference’s postseason tournament last season \u2013 to just three singles and issued two walks in the game.\u00a0 She struck out six batters.\u00a0 She recorded her 30th pitching victory for the Vikings.<\/p>\n Autumn Perry<\/a> hit a double in the bottom second inning and scored home after an RBI single by Kadie Anderson<\/a> for VCSU 1-0 lead.<\/p>\n VCSU’s offense ignited with three doubles in the bottom fourth inning, producing four runs to extend their lead to 5-0.\u00a0 Marissa Hawkins<\/a>, Tatum Lundin<\/a> and Jayme Menard<\/a> each had a double in the inning.<\/p>\n Anderson added another RBI single in the bottom fifth inning to extend the Vikings’ lead to 6-0.\u00a0 The game ended in the bottom sixth inning as Riley Perryman<\/a> hit a 2-RBI double for an eight-run mercy rule after five innings.<\/p>\n