VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota and Kansas City split a Summit League doubleheader Sunday and split a four-game, weekend series at Nygaard Field. South Dakota won Sunday's opener 5-3 before the Roos came alive in the nightcap to score a 15-7, six-inning win.
 
The 2-2 split keeps South Dakota (11-30) in third place in the Summit League standings with a 6-6 mark, one game behind North Dakota State, at the halfway point. Kansas City (20-18), which has faced the top three teams already, is 4-8. The Coyotes head to first-place South Dakota State (29-4, 14-0) next weekend in Brookings.
 
South Dakota entered the weekend with three home runs all season, but blasted five in four games against the Roos. Shortstop Lauren Eamiguel went deep for the second time in as many days and freshman Gabby Moser went yard once in both games Sunday for her first two collegiate homers.
 
Moser hit a two-run homer off Kansas City ace Mia Hoveland in the bottom of the third inning of game one to give South Dakota a 3-2 lead. Eamiguel and Lauren Wobken hit back-to-back bombs off Hoveland in the fifth inning that made it 5-2.
 
USD starting pitcher Gill Woodward, who won game two Saturday, worked out of a number of peculiar jams throughout game one. She survived because she held the Roos to a 2-for-11 showing with runners in scoring position through six frames. Most notably, she got leadoff hitter Katherine Karnatz to ground into a 5-2 double play with nobody out in the sixth inning after the bottom of the Kansas City order recorded three straight singles. Another ground ball from Kloe Hilbrenner got Woodward out of the inning unscathed.
 
Kansas City mounted one last threat in the seventh. Sydney McQuinn laced a one-out double that put runners on second and third and cut the lead to 5-3. USD head coach Robert Wagner opted for ace Sarah Lisko to relieve Woodward, and Lisko got back-to-back ground balls to earn her fourth collegiate save. Woodward has won her last three decisions to move to 3-3 on the season.
 
Wagner had Lisko ready for game four and despite some sloppy defensive play early, the Coyotes led 3-1 after one inning and 7-5 through three. Moser hit a ball that bounced off the wall in left field and fell over for a three-run homer in the first. An RBI double by Wobken and a base hit by Jordyn Pender helped USD to four runs in the bottom of the third.
 
But Kansas City, which entered with the second-best offense in the conference, finally came alive in the middle innings. They batted around in the third and fourth innings, totaling nine runs there, and tacked on four more in the fifth. Roos left fielder Faith Willis hit a two-run homer in the fourth as part of a 3-for-4 effort in the nightcap. Catcher Alexis D'Ambrosio was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and three RBI.
 
Eamiguel was 3-for-3 in the finale and was 6-of-12 during the series with the pair of homers. Moser was 5-for-11 with three doubles, two homers and six RBIs. Willis and D'Ambrosio led Kansas City with eight hits apiece.