ORLANDO, Fla.—South Dakota's softball team split a pair of one-run games Friday to kick off a tournament hosted by University of Central Florida. The Coyotes topped LIU-Brooklyn 3-2 in the opener and lost 1-0 to Middle Tennessee State in games played at UCF Softball Complex.
South Dakota senior first baseman
Yvon Minogue had three hits in the two games and tied the Coyotes' career mark for doubles. She led off game one with her 51
st collegiate two-bagger and came around to score on a two-out base hit by
Sydney Hancock. Minogue, who led the nation in doubles last season, tied Tiffany Davis (1998-2001) for the record.
Minogue's RBI single in inning two gave USD a 2-0 lead against LIU-Brooklyn (4-12) and the Coyotes made it 3-0 on a base hit by
Christy Warnock later in the inning.
Rachel Cue (1-9) earned her first win in the circle by holding the Blackbirds to six hits in 6 2/3 innings. Whitney West tripled and scored in the bottom of the third inning for Brooklyn and Victoria Zamora made it 3-2 with an RBI double with two outs in the seventh inning.
Madison Frain relieved Cue at that point and got Celinna Cosio to groundout to short to end the game.
Minogue, Warnock and Hancock each posted two hits for the Coyotes (2-15). South Dakota out-hit Brooklyn 9-6.
A hit batter, sacrifice bunt and RBI single by Kristin Uselton in the bottom of the fifth inning accounted for the only run in game two. Middle Tennessee pitcher Kelci Cheney (6-5) allowed three singles and struck out seven in pitching her first shutout of the season. No hits came past the third inning. She got a lift from her defense when right fielder Kirstyn Cuccia threw out a runner at the plate to end the third. The Blue Raiders improved to 9-7.
Madison Frain (1-5) was the hard-luck pitcher for the Coyotes against Middle Tennessee. She allowed just two hits and both were singles. She struck out four and walked one.
South Dakota will face North Florida at 12:30 p.m. (CST) and 25
th-ranked UCF at 5 p.m. Saturday on day two before facing La Salle Sunday.
