SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Black Hills State University softball team closed out its 2017 season on Sunday celebrating the seniors and splitting the doubleheader against the University of Colorado Colorado Springs by scores of 5-1 and 6-5.

Black Hills State ended with a 7-37 overall and 5-31 in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference action while UCCS closed out their season 17-28 and 16-24 in the conference.

Game One: BHSU 5 UCCS 1

A three-run inning carried the Yellow Jackets past UCCS.

After a scoreless first inning, the Mountain Lions kicked off the second taking a 1-0 lead. Jordyn Cusimano hit a one out single to left center. After a ground out by Meghan Waidler advancing Cusimano to second, Lexi Lancaster stepped up and singled to right center to score Cusimano for the 1-0 lead.

Black Hills State responded with a two-run fourth inning to take over the lead 2-1. Maddie London started out with a single up the middle. The next at-bat, Alex Wiley stepped up and singled to left field but advanced to second on an error by the defense allowing Makenzi Strong, pinch runner for London, to land on third off the error as well.

Behind Wiley, Maddie Druse reached first on a fielder's choice advancing to second. With runners on second and third, Lauren Lesniak stepped in to pinch hit for Lexi Baker and reached on an error by the defense and scored Wiley and Druse for the 2-1 lead.

From there, the Yellow Jackets increased their lead in the fifth. Kindall Bethke hit a leadoff double to right field to put herself in scoring position. Jordyn Ballard stepped up and reached on an error by the defense.

With two outs, Maddie London singled to right center pushing Claire Fergusson, pinch runner for Ballard, to second and scoring Bethke to increase the Green and Gold lead 3-1. The next at-bat, Wiley cracked a double to right center to score London and Fergusson to end the inning and claim the victory 5-1.

The Yellow Jackets tallied eight hits with Wiley leading the way going 3-for-3 from the plate recording two RBIs and one run. Joining Wiley, Bethke went 2-for-4 with one run while London went 2-for-3 with one run and RBI. Senior Pamela Sakuma registered the other hit for the offense.

Wiley picked up the win for the Green and Gold giving up just one earned one in seven innings and two strike outs while Stephanie Chitkowski was charged with the loss after giving up five runs in six innings and striking out seven.

Game Two: UCCS 6 BHSU 5

A three-run sixth inning helped carry the Mountain Lions to a 6-5 victory over Black Hills State.

In the first inning, Kindall Bethke picked the perfect pitch to crack a home run over the right field fence to leadoff and get the 1-0 lead over UCCS.

In the second inning, the Yellow Jackets carried that momentum with Katelyn Odle hitting a triple to right center. Following Odle, Lauren Lesniak hit a ground out to the shortstop but scored Odle for a 2-0 lead.

The Mountain Lions ended the shutout in the third inning. Meghan Waidler led off reaching first on an error by the defense and was replaced by Megan Duffy on first. Lexi Lancaster stepped up to single through the right side to push Duffy to second. Lexi Belligan closed out the inning with a single to left center to score Duffy and trail 2-1.

In the fourth inning, BHSU increased its lead scoring three runs. Odle led off with a double down the right field line. Lesniak stepped up and reached first on an error by the Mountain Lion defense advancing Odle to scoring position at third. Speed demon Makenzi Strong came in to replace Lesniak at first and went on to steal second.

With runners at second and third and no outs, Maddie Druse hit a single to second base to advance Strong to third and score Odle to increase the lead 3-1. In the next at-bat with one out, Bethke grounded out but scored Strong and advanced Druse to third for a 4-1 lead. Lexi Baker ended the inning with a single to third scoring Druse and increasing the score 5-1.

Heading into the sixth trailing by four runs, the Mountain Lions cut into the Yellow Jacket lead. Belligan led off reaching on an error by the Green and Gold defense only to be advanced to second on a ground out by Rayle Glover. The next at-bat, Makenna Smith singled to center field scoring Belligan to trail 5-2.

From there, Jordyn Cusimano singled to left field to advance Smith to second. With two runners on and two outs, Waidler doubled to center field and advanced to third on the throw scoring Cusimano and Smith to trail by one at 5-4.

In the seventh, the Mountain Lions were able to score two more runs to take the lead and hold off the Yellow Jackets for the victory at 6-5.

The Green and Gold tallied 11 hits to the Mountain Lions eight. Odle led the offense going 3-for-3 and scoring two runs. Joining Odle, Pamela Sakuma and Lexi Baker each went 2-for-4 from the plate while Baker tallied an RBI. Morgan Smith contributed to the offense as well with two hits while Druse and Bethke each had one.

Alex Wiley was charged with the loss after pitching one inning while Christina Patton picked up the win for the Mountain Lions after six innings pitched and striking out two. Chitkowski grabbed the save after one inning after coming into the game in the seventh to replace Patton.

The series concluded the Yellow Jacket season but fans can follow the team in the offseason on bhsuathletics.com, Facebook and Twitter.