IOWA CITY, Iowa—Kali Kossakowski and Sam Schmidt both smacked solo home runs to lead Northern Illinois to a 4-1 win against South Dakota Friday in the opening game at a tournament hosted by University of Iowa.

In addition to the long balls, Northern Illinois pitchers Keegan Hayes and Alex Frenz combined to allow four hits and struck out eight. Hayes (3-2) pitched the first four innings to get the win. Frenz struck out six of the 10 hitters she faced in the final three innings to earn her first save of 2017.

South Dakota (7-15) got its run in the fourth when Emily Winckler led off with a double and later scored on an RBI single by catcher Jessica Rogers to cut the Huskies' lead to 2-1. Rogers had two of the Coyotes' four hits.

The good news for USD was the return of freshman pitcher Ally Wiegand, who has been limited the last the few weeks with an injury. Wiegand tossed 125 pitches and threw all seven innings. She allowed eight hits and struck out seven while walking one.

The Coyotes return to the field Saturday for games against Creighton (2 p.m.) and Valparaiso (6 p.m.). USD will face Creighton again Sunday and take on Iowa Monday before returning to campus.