PHOENIX, Ariz.—South Dakota shortstop
Lauren Eamiguel was 3-for-3 with three RBIs in leading the Coyotes to a 4-1 victory against Grand Canyon Saturday at GCU Softball Stadium. The win avenged a Friday loss to the Lopes and moved USD to 13-6 on the season.
Eamiguel had a two-out RBI single in the second, singled and scored on a
Courtney Wilson double in the fifth, and delivered a two-out, two-run bases-loaded rip up the middle in the sixth. It was the second three-hit game of Eamiguel's career.
That was plenty of offense for Coyote starting pitcher
Dustie Durham (6-3), who struck out five and tossed her fifth complete game of the season. Durham held the Lopes (9-8) to 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position. She worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth by getting clean-up hitter Taylor Olsen to fly out to right to end the inning. Olsen had a double and a single in two prior at bats off Durham.
It marked the second year in a row that these two teams have split a pair during the regular season.
Utah 5, South Dakota 1
Earlier in the day, it was South Dakota which couldn't get the crucial hit in a 5-1 loss to Utah of the Pac-12. The Coyotes had runners in scoring position four times against Utes pitching, but came away with only a first-inning run. USD stranded nine runners on base.
Utah (7-12) got a two-run homer from catcher Katie Faulk, her third of the season, and capitalized on some Coyote errors to push a run across in the first and last innings. First baseman Ellessa Bonstrom was 4-for-4 in the game with an RBI and a run scored.
Camille Fowler led off with a double and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by
Alyssa Fernandez to tie the game at 1-1 in the first. She had two hits against Utah as did Coyote left fielder
Ashtyn Blakeman.
South Dakota is 2-2 in two days at Grand Canyon. The Coyotes' final game of the tournament is at 10 a.m. (MT) Saturday against Iowa State (8-7).
