FARGO, ND - Omaha softball swept a pair of games at North Dakota State behind strong pitching and timely long balls in Fargo. The Groff sisters led the way in game one, as starting pitcher Maddia earned her league-leading 15th win and sister Ryllin delivered her first home run of the season in the 4-0 Mavericks win. Omaha won game two 8-1 behind the pitching of
Alexis Wiggins and
Grace Hornbuckle, backed up by
Ava Rongisch's sixth home run of the season.
The Mavericks (25-9, 5-3) have won four straight games, with the finale of the weekend series Sunday at noon at North Dakota State (15-19, 2-3). All conference games are televised on the Summit League Network.
In game one,
Maddia Groff combined with
Grace Hornbuckle for Omaha's seventh shutout of the season. The Summit League's Kwik Star Peak Performer of the Month for March, Maddia (15-4) struck out eight and allowed just three hits over 6.0 innings before giving way to the freshman Hornbuckle, who struck out all three batters she faced in the seventh. Maddia leads the Summit League in wins, ERA and strikeouts.
Maddia received all the support she would need in the top of the third of game one, thanks to her sister
Rylinn Groff's first homer as a Maverick, a two-run shot scoring
Maggie O'Brien. With two outs in the fifth,
Haley Wilwerding ripped her fifth home run of the season down the left field line, driving in Rylinn to close out the scoring in the 4-0 win. Rylinn finished the doubleheader going 5-8 with three runs scored and two RBI.
Game two saw the Mavericks jump out front in the top of the first. After Rylinn singled to right with one out,
Sydney Thomason doubled to left leaving runners at second and third. Groff then scored on a wild pitch to give Omaha a 1-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth, the Mavs had two on via walks when
Katherine Johnson singled up the middle, scoring Thomason.
Ava Rongisch's single loaded the bases for
Marra Cramer, who drew a walk to bring in
Sammy Schmidt and make it 4-0. O'Brien singled to right to bring in Johnson, and the Mavericks led 5-0 after four innings.
Omaha added one more run in the fifth on Johnson's RBI double, scoring Wilwerding to make the game 6-0. Rongisch's two-run home run in the top of the seventh plated Johnson to close out the scoring in the 6-1 win.
Mavericks pitching continued to deliver goose eggs in game two until NDSU scored their only run of the doubleheader in the fifth on Chloe Woldruff's solo home run off pitcher
Alexis Wiggins. Wiggins earned the win (6-5), going 6.0 innings, allowing just five hits and one run, walking two and striking out three. Hornbuckle again closed out the game with a scoreless seventh, striking out two.
The two teams conclude the three-game Summit League series Sunday at 12:00 p.m. CT in Fargo. Omaha then travels for three games at Kansas City before returning to
Connie Claussen Field April 18-20 for a three-game Summit League series against South Dakota. Links to live statistics and streaming video can be found on the softball
schedule page at OMavs.com.
Season tickets for home games at
Connie Claussen Field are on-sale now at
OMavs.com/Tix.
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