Dana Dunsmore just wasn't feeling it Saturday. Then the fifth inning rolled around.
Down to the last strike of the inning and with the score knotted 2-2, Dunsmore shook off nerves and put a charge into the Dickinson State softball team.
"I was struggling all day. I felt nervous all day," Dunsmore said. "I just wanted to drive it somewhere."
Dunsmore drove a solo home run over the left-field fence to put the Blue Hawks up one. From there, there wasn't much Valley City State could do.
The Blue Hawks scored four more runs in the sixth inning to secure a 7-2 victory over the Vikings in the first game of a Dakota Athletic Conference doubleheader at Gress Softball Complex.
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"We were going after her," VCSU coach Chad Slyter said. "She's a good enough hitter. When you make a mistake, she's going to make you pay."
VCSU went ahead 1-0 in the first inning when clean-up hitter Kelli Unrein's single to center field scored lead-off batter Jackie O'Neill, who had been walked by DSU sophomore right hander Meghan Shaw.
DSU bounced back in the bottom half of the first when Tiffany Saatzer led off the inning with a double to center field on Krystal Hathaway's first pitch.
Three batters later, right fielder Danielle Abrahamson bombed a two-run homer into left field to put DSU up 2-1.
"She needed a big day," DSU coach Guy Fridley said of Abrahamson, who struggled Wednesday at Minot State.
Shaw too rebounded in the second inning, striking out the side. She finished with nine strikeouts.
"Meghan kept us in the game with her pitching," Dunsmore said.
VCSU kept things close though when sophomore Jessica Razicki crushed a home run to left field in the third inning, tying the game 2-2.
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After Shaw quickly retired the Vikings' batters in the top of the sixth inning, the Blue Hawks' bats woke up.
DSU had two doubles, two singles and reached on an error in the bottom of the sixth, helping drive in four runs. Dunsmore and Abrahamson - who went 4-for-4 - both batted runs in.
"We won that in a way we haven't won any game this year," Fridley said. "We grinded it out."
Shaw struck out a batter, forced a fielder's choice and a 6-3 groundout in the seventh inning to seal the win.
She allowed just three hits in the game and improved her record to 14-1.
"Against a team like Dickinson, you can't make a mistake," Slyter said. "We can't do that against a team like them because they'll make you pay for it."
DSU 9, VCSU 1
Kristen Fleury's two-run homer in the first inning sparked DSU to an easy win in the second game of the doubleheader.
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Alyssa Baker pitched a two-hitter, but allowed Jessica Ruzicki a home run in the fourth inning.
The Blue Hawks, who have already clinched the DAC regular-season championship, host the Vikings again today in their regular-season finale.
As long as the games are played, the Blue Hawks can hit the magic number of 16 conference games, can legitimately win the conference and host the NAIA Region III tournament.
