Pair of gems in the circle power Blue Hawks to sweep over Doane

Sagan Osborne | Dickinson State Sports Information Director

ABERDEEN, S.D. – Standout pitching performances from Alexa Kappel and Ari Martinez led Dickinson State to a two-game sweep (4-2 and 9-1) over Doane University on Sunday at the Presentation College dome. With the win, the Blue Hawks move to 4-2 on the season.

GAME 1

Dickinson State and Doane were locked into a pitchers dual for over five innings before Kara Conway connected on a game-changing home run to give the Blue Hawks the victory.

After the Tigers got on the board first in the top of the first inning, DSU responded with a leadoff triple by Rhea Paiva and an RBI single by Dallis Mitchell to start the bottom half of the inning and tie the game at 1-1. Each team strung together three consecutive scoreless innings from the second through the fourth, but in the top of the fifth inning, a sacrifice fly put Doane ahead 2-1. The Blue Hawks could not answer back in the bottom half of the inning, but held the Tigers scoreless again in the top of the sixth, setting up Conway's heroics.

With two outs and a runner on first base, Emma Woodworth singled to right field, keeping the inning alive. Conway stepped up to the plate next and hammered a three-run shot to left field, flipping the score and giving DSU a 4-2 advantage.

That was plenty of cushion for DSU starter Alexa Kappel, who worked around some two-out base runners in the seventh inning to finish her complete game. For the day she went the full 7.0 innings, allowed just 2 runs on 3 hits and struck out 11 DU batters.

Ari Martinez and Paiva both went 2-3 to help lead the DSU offense, and Mitchell collected the only Blue Hawk RBI not on Conway's home run with her first inning single.

GAME 2

Six different Blue Hawks collected RBI and Ari Martinez spun a 6-hit complete game as Dickinson State rolled past Doane University in game two of the double header.

After a scoreless first inning by both teams, Dickinson State got on the board first in the top of the second inning when Kara Conway drove in Cassidy Venner, who had reached earlier on a fielder's choice, with an RBI single to third base to give DSU the early 1-0 advantage. Hailey Enriquez worked a bases-loaded walk in the top of the third inning to make it 2-0 Blue Hawks before the Tigers got an RBI groundout in the home half of the inning to cut the lead in half, 2-1.

A pair of RBI doubles by Kaitlyn Rizo and Rhea Paiva scored two more runs for DSU in the fourth inning to make it 4-1 before a five-run explosion in the sixth inning got DSU over the mercy rule threshold at 9-1. Another bases loaded walk, this time by Paiva, plated the first Blue Hawk sixth inning run, followed by RBI singles by Dallis Mitchell and Ari Martinez made it 8-1. Enriquez scored Mitchell on a groundout two batters later for the final DSU run.

Martinez earned the win in the circle, going 6.0 innings and allowing one run on six hits while striking out four.

WHATS NEXT

The Blue Hawks will take some time off from games before heading to Tucson, Arizona to play 13 games from March 6-13. Their first games will be on Monday, March 6 against Dakota Wesleyan and Olivet Nazarene.