{"id":171878,"date":"2019-05-13T15:31:24","date_gmt":"2019-05-13T20:31:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=171878"},"modified":"2019-05-13T16:37:33","modified_gmt":"2019-05-13T21:37:33","slug":"viking-softball-wins-opening-round-naia-tourney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/?p=171878","title":{"rendered":"Viking Softball wins, Opening Round NAIA Tourney"},"content":{"rendered":"

COLUMBIA, MO.\u00a0 (VCSU<\/a>) \u2013 Emily Smith<\/a> pitched a complete game Monday afternoon as the Valley City State softball team started the NAIA Softball Championship Opening Round with a 2-1 victory over Madonna University (Mich.).<\/p>\n

The top-seeded Vikings manufactured just enough offense for Smith, who was dominant throughout the day and allowed only three hits while striking out eight. Two-out RBI singles by Jayme Menard<\/a> and Joelle Aiello<\/a> pushed across VCSU’s two runs.<\/p>\n

\"\"Valley City State, the No. 1 seed in the four-team bracket, advances to play No. 2 seed Columbia (Mo.) in a winner’s bracket game Tuesday at 10 a.m. Columbia defeated No. 3 seed Brenau University 4-0 on Monday. The winner of VCSU and Columbia will earn a spot in the championship on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On Monday, Smith and Madonna’s Madisen Henry were locked in a scoreless pitcher’s duel through four innings, getting some great defensive play behind them. The Vikings finally broke through with a single run in the top of the fifth. Jayme Menard<\/a>‘s two-out RBI single scored Kadie Anderson<\/a> from third base, putting the Vikings ahead 1-0.<\/p>\n

Valley City State added a big insurance run in the top of the seventh. Kadie Anderson<\/a> opened the inning with a single and then was lifted for pinch runner Nichole Reed<\/a>, who moved to second base on a groundout. Joelle Aiello<\/a> delivered a two-out RBI single and Reed scored from second base, avoiding the tag with a nice hook slide at home plate.<\/p>\n

That run proved to be vital as Madonna’s Kerstyn Comerzan would hit a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, cutting VCSU’s lead to 2-1. That was the only blemish against Smith, who settled in to strike out pinch hitter Yogi Hang to end the game.<\/p>\n

Smith gave up just three hits in the complete game and earned her 32nd win of the season. She did not walk a batter and struck out eight. Henry took the loss for Madonna after giving up six hits and two runs over her seven innings. She walked one and struck out three.<\/p>\n

Anderson was 2-for-3 and scored a run for the Vikings. Aiello and Menard each collected a hit and an RBI, while Autumn Perry<\/a> and Smith each had one hit as well.<\/p>\n

Comerzan’s home run was the highlight for Madonna’s offense. Sarah Holton and Makayla Bassage each had a hit.<\/p>\n

Up next:<\/strong> Valley City State (52-3) plays Columbia (Mo.) in\u00a0a winner’s bracket game Tuesday at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

COLUMBIA, MO.\u00a0 (VCSU) \u2013 Emily Smith pitched a complete game Monday afternoon as the Valley City State softball team started the NAIA Softball Championship Opening Round with a 2-1 victory over Madonna University (Mich.). The top-seeded Vikings manufactured just enough offense for Smith, who was dominant throughout the day and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":98365,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-171878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=171878"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171878\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":171905,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171878\/revisions\/171905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/98365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=171878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=171878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/csinewsnow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=171878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}