Dean’s Walk Off Home Run Lifts NDSU Softball Over FIU

PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico – Trailing 4-3 and down to the final out, Bella Dean hit a walk off home run to lift North Dakota State softball to a 6-4 win over Florida International Friday afternoon at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge at Nancy Almaraz Field.
 
Chloe Woldruff led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk and the Bison (4-5) would put the go-ahead run on when Amai Hanta hit a one-out pinch-hit single up the middle. After a groundout brought the Bison down to their final out, Dean hit her second home run of the day to give the Bison the win over the Panthers (6-2).
 
North Dakota State took the lead in the first inning, as Jessica Delatorre hit an RBI single to score Dean. Florida International would answer back with a run in the second to tie the game.
 
However, Dean would give the Bison the lead in the third with a solo home run in the third, sending a 3-1 pitch over the fence in left field. Freshman Savannah Henzler then added to the Bison lead in the fourth with her first career home run, smacking the first pitch of the at bat out of the park to left.
 
The Panthers would settle in and scored a run in the fifth and then added two more in the sixth courtesy of a Bison error to take a 4-3 lead. After Henzler’s home run, the Bison were retired in order for three consecutive innings before Woldruff led off the seventh with the walk.
 
Dean finished the game 2-for-3 with a walk, three runs scored and four RBIs. It’s Dean’s second multi-home run game of her career. She was the last Bison to hit two home runs in a game, doing it against Georgetown in Nashville last March.
 
Savy Williams picked up the win in relief, pitching two scoreless innings, scattering three hits with one strikeout. Addie Bowers picked up the no decision after going five innings with four runs, three earned, against her on six hits and one strikeout.
 
Seven of the nine Bison in the starting lineup reached with a hit or a walk. Star Cortez, Jasmyn Yessian and Zoe King also picked up base hits for NDSU.
 
The Bison will return to action on Saturday, wrapping up their trip to Mexico against Illinois State. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. from Nancy Almaraz Field in Puerto Vallarta.