VERMILLION, S.D.—South Dakota used a seven-run inning to win game one, then rode the arm of Sarah Lisko, the glove of Aleesia Sainz and the feet of Lauren Wobken to complete a doubleheader sweep of North Dakota Saturday at Nygaard Field. Scores were 9-7 and 1-0.
 
The Coyotes (8-25, 3-1 Summit) took three out of four from the Hawks (11-22, 3-5) while playing their first home games and first conference games in two years. Lisko tossed a two-hit shutout in the nightcap, the first for USD this season and the second of her collegiate career. She won both starts during the series, allowing three runs in 14 innings of work.
 
"This is huge," said USD head coach Robert Wagner. "We had been looking towards conference and that had been our mantra. It's been a tough go, but let's get to conference and restart. And so getting off to a 3-1 start, for us, is good for momentum, good for confidence, good for morale. It was just really big for us to get that win."
 
Game two was completely different than the opener when the teams combined for 23 hits. It quickly became a pitcher's dual between Lisko and North Dakota's Lauren Feld. The Coyotes had runners on board early, but couldn't push anything across. The game's only run came on a peculiar play in the fourth.
 
Wobken led off with a single and was bunted to second by Makayla Tsagalis. A Dylan Underwood single put runners on the corners with one out. A ground ball to second fielded on a short hop froze Wobken at third and the Hawks registered the second out of the inning at second base. So Wobken made a play of her own.
 
"Coach leaned in to me and said, 'Hey, the catcher's not looking at you at all. Get a bigger lead and time it out.' I just looked at him like he was kind of crazy. Then he said, 'do it this pitch.' So I got a little bigger lead than normal and she didn't look at me so I just ran as fast as I could and hoped I was safe."
 
To Feld's credit, she recognized Wobken heading home right away and immediately tossed back to catcher Cassie Castaneda. But Wobken slid under the tag for what goes down as her eighth collegiate stolen base in more than 160 games.
 
The rest was up to Lisko. The Hawks got a runner in the first and second innings, but then nothing until Katie Bierstedt was glazed by a pitch with one out in the seventh. It ended a string of 16 consecutive outs in which the ball never left the infield. Lisko got a pop up to Camille Fowler in center and a ground ball to Lauren Eamiguel at short to finish it.
 
"My drop was really good today and they chased some screwballs," said Lisko. "But Aleesia at third was a baller and Lauren was clean at short. It always seems like it comes down to one game at the end of the year in terms of seeding and standings so this was huge."
 
Sainz fielded eight balls and Eamiguel had five in game two. A lineout to Eamiguel started a double play to end the first inning. Sainz handled several hot shots at third.
 
Joryn Pender and Jadyn DeWitte each had two hits during a seven-run second inning in game one that gave South Dakota a 9-4 lead. North Dakota chipped away with a run in three straight innings, but Coyote pitcher Peyton Maher powered through to earn her second win of the season.
 
Pender and DeWitte both finished 2-for-3 and combined for three RBIs. Fowler, Underwood and Courtney Wilson also had two hits in the opener. Fowler and Wilson totaled eight hits apiece during the series.
 
South Dakota heads to Fargo, North Dakota, next weekend for a four-game set with North Dakota State. The Bison (9-19, 4-4) have split series with Western Illinois and Kansas City to start Summit play.