MADEIRA BEACH, Fla.—South Dakota softball ran its win streak to six games by blanking Quinnipiac 4-0 and outscoring George Mason 9-7 on the opening day of the Madeira Beach Invitational.
The Coyotes (6-1) are off to their best start since 1999 and are in the midst of their longest winning streak since 2015. USD will have a chance to extend its streak Saturday with games against Drexel (4:30 p.m., ET) and Murray State (7 p.m., ET).
Game one was full of flashy defense until the fifth when Coyote third baseman
Lauren Wobken broke the ice with a shot that just cleared the wall in left center. It was Wobken's second homer of the season and third of her career.
That hit seemed to loosen a team that averaged 10 runs on opening weekend. Later that same inning,
Dustie Durham sent a no-doubt blast to left that plated three and made it 4-0. Durham had two of USD's five hits against Quinnipiac (1-1).
The run support in that one inning proved plenty for starter
Alexis Devers, who fired her first collegiate shutout. Devers allowed five hits and struck out five in moving to 2-0 on the season. She has yet to allow a run in two starts and 11 2/3 innings. All eight hits she has allowed have been singles.
South Dakota's 1-4 hitters combined to go 10-for-17 in game two against George Mason, but it was the five-hole and senior
Jamie Holscher who drove them in. Holscher doubled in
Camille Fowler in the top of the first inning and blasted a three-run homer in the fourth that put the Coyotes ahead 9-3. It was the first homer of the year for Holscher and the eighth of her career.
The Patriots (0-4) crawled back with three runs in the bottom of the sixth that made it 9-6, and had the tying run on first base in the seventh. Durham, who started game two, and reentered later in the game, induced a ground ball to second to secure the win.
Durham pitched 4 1/3 innings of game two and picked up the save.
Sarah Lisko (1-0), who entered in the third inning and pitching into the sixth, got the win.
Durham backed up her opening weekend by going 4-for-7 Friday with five RBIs. Fowler was 4-for-8 and came around to score four times.
Alyssa Fernandez had three hits, was on base four times and had an RBI.
