KNOXVILLE, Tennessee – South Dakota softball team dropped a pair of games on Friday against teams from Power 5 conferences during the opening day of the Tennessee Invitational at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
 
Ohio State (Big Ten) hit a pair of late home runs to down the Coyotes 6-3 before eighth-ranked Tennessee, behind 2023 SEC Freshman of the Year Karlyn Pickens, blanked South Dakota 6-0.
 
OHIO STATE 6, SOUTH DAKOTA 3
Ohio State erased a 3-1 South Dakota lead with two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and two more in the seventh.
 
McKenzie Bump hit a tie-breaking solo homer with two outs in the top of the sixth before teammate Kami Kortokrax hit a two-run homer in the seventh for the Buckeyes.
 
South Dakota snapped a 1-1 deadlock with two unearned runs in the third, taking advantage of two Ohio State errors before Gabby Moser plated a run on an RBI single.
 
Autumn Iversen, who had two of the Coyotes six hits in the game, had an RBI single in the second to even the game at 1-1.
 
Ohio State leadoff batter Tegan Cortelletti went 4-for-4 with two runs scored and a stolen base.
 
TENNESSEE 6, SOUTH DAKOTA 0
Pickens allowed just one hit – a single to Delaney White – and struck out 13 in the complete game shutout.
 
The Volunteers scored three runs in the first getting an RBI single from McKenna Gibson and a two-run home run from Zaida Puni.
 
Lauren Mealer would hit a two-run homer in the fifth to make it 5-0 and Kiki Milloy's RBI double plated the final run of the game in the sixth.