SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University softball team split day one versus New Mexico Highlands by scores of 5-4 and 7-6.

Black Hills State falls to 4-21 on the season and 2-16 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play while New Mexico Highlands improves to 11-24 overall and 8-14 in RMAC action.

Game One: BHSU 5 NMHU 4

In the first inning, Black Hills State jumped out to a 1-0 lead. Lexi Baker hit a single to right field to land on base. Morgan Smith walked to advance Baker to second. In the next at-bat, Stefanie Witman reached first on a fielder's choice allowing Baker to take third. A single up the middle by Kindall Bethke advanced Witman to second and scored Baker.

In the second inning, Maddie Druse hit a single to third base. Following Druse, Claire Fergusson hit a single down the left field line pushing Druse to second. The next at-bat, Baker singled to shortstop to load the bases moving Fergusson and Druse to second and third. Smith stepped up to the plate and walked scoring Druse and advancing Baker and Fergusson for bases loaded.

With two outs, Witman smacked a double to left field to score Baker and Fergusson and gave the Yellow Jackets a 4-0 lead.

Trailing 4-0 in the third, New Mexico Highlands rallied back to come within one run of the Green and Gold. Victoria Gonzales walked to lead off for the Cowgirls. Breanna Cabrera singled through the right side to advance Gonzales. With runners on first and second, Leah Osborn singled to center field advancing Cabrera to second and Gonzales scored to earn a run for the Cowgirls and trail 4-1.

With one out, Bayley Legarreta stepped up to the plate and singled up the middle pushing Osborn to third and scoring Cabrera. From there, Jade Callister singled to right center but advanced to second on an error by the Yellow Jackets causing Legarreta to reach third and Osborn to score to trail 4-3.

The Cowgirls went on to score one run in the sixth inning to tie the game at 4-4. Christian Bobian reached first off a single up the middle and then went on to steal second. With two outs, Gonzales stepped up to the plate and singled to center field to score Bobian for the tying run.

In the seventh, Alex Wiley led off for the Yellow Jackets reaching first on an error by the Cowgirls. Kindall Bethke grounded out to the pitcher allowing Wiley to advance to second. With a 1-2 count, Lauren Lesniak picked the right pitch for a walk off single to score Wiley for the game-winning run. The Yellow Jackets claimed the victory 5-4.
Baker went 3-for-4 from the plate and tallied two runs for the Green and Gold.

In the circle, Wiley picked up the win after giving up just one earned run and striking out four batters while Madison Davis was charged with the loss for the Cowgirls striking out just two batters.

Game Two: NMHU 7 BHSU 6

A four-run seventh inning was not quite enough for the Yellow Jackets to come out victorious.

The Cowgirls started with a quick 2-1 lead in the first inning. Bobian reached first on a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Katelyn Bates then singled to left field to place Bobian on third in scoring position for NMHU. The next at-bat, Gonzales grounded out to second base but scored Bobian and advanced Bates to second. A single up the middle by Cabrera allowed Bates to score and lead 2-0.

The Yellow Jackets answered back in the bottom of the inning to trail by one. Witman singled to left field to start the scoring for the Green and Gold. Maddie London stepped up to the plate behind Witman and doubled to left field placing Witman in scoring position at third base. From there, Bethke singled to left field and scored Witman to trail 2-1.

In the second inning, the Cowgirls increased their lead over BHSU scoring two runs from Legarreta and Monica Caporal to go-ahead 4-1. From there, NMHU scored runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings to lead 7-2.

In the fifth inning, Baker scored to trail the Cowgirls 7-2. It started with Baker singling to shortstop. Catcher Maddie London stepped up to the plate and walked advancing Baker to second. With runners on first and second, Bethke singled to left field pushing London to second and scoring Baker.

The seventh inning saw the Yellow Jackets rally back with four runs to fall short of the victory. Makenzi Strong led off for BHSU with a single to right center. Wiley advanced Strong to second with a single to right center. Bethke then singled up the middle to move Wiley to second and scoring Strong to trail 7-3.

With one out, Smith stepped up to the plate and singled but advanced to second and third off errors by the Cowgirls. Smith's single and the errors allowed Bethke and Wiley to score to trail 7-5. Katelyn Odle hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Smith and trail by one at 7-6 and close out the inning.

Bethke went 4-for-4 from the plate tallying three RBIs and a run for the Green and Gold.

In the circle, Witman was charged with the loss while Brianna Velasquez picked up the win for NMHU striking out five batters.

Black Hills State returns to tomorrow to face New Mexico Highlands to close out the four-game series. First pitch is set for 11 a.m.