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Feb. 10, 2008

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - A walk-off home run by Nicole Puerling powered North Dakota to a 14-13 win over Dayton in a back-and-forth battle that saw the teams combine for 33 hits in the opening game of the second day of the Ramada UNI-Dome Classic.

Puerling's solo shot to right-center field broke a 13-all tie in the bottom of the seventh and improved the Fighting Sioux to 2-1 on the weekend. Dayton fell to 0-3 with the loss in a game that saw the teams fail to score in just three of 14 half-innings. Puerling finished the game 3-for-4 with four RBIs, as five North Dakota players and three more from Dayton finished with multiple-hit games. Also for the Sioux, Lindsey Gaustad finished the day 3-or-5 with three runs scored and a pair of RBIs.

A four-run second inning broke things open for the Flyers, as Dayton manufactured its first two runs by capitalizing on a walk and a pair of hit batters. Laura Matthews then laced a double to left field that brought in Blair Crabtree and Mollie Schrank, giving the Flyers a 5-0 lead.

The Sioux answered in the bottom half of the frame, with Lindsey Gaustad stroking a lead-off single and then scoring on an RBI hit by Hannah-Rose Peters.

Things tightened even further in the bottom of the third, as North Dakota made the most of a Dayton error to post three unearned runs and cut the Flyers' lead to 5-4.

After Nicole Puerling was intentionally walked to load the bases with two outs in the inning, a fielding error allowed Peters to reach and Abby Rehberger to score. The miscue also left the door open for Justine Wernick to drop in a two-RBI single that fell just out of the reach of Schrank in left field and brought Puerling and Gaustad in to score. Dayton removed any doubt in the top of the fourth, however, as six consecutive Flyers reached base in a six-run frame that saw their lead balloon to 11-4.

Allie Falk brought in a run with a single, which Megan Lee and Emily Stegeman followed with back-to-back two-RBI doubles to make it a six-run lead in favor of the Flyers. Molly Meyer then delivered Dayton's third-consecutive double to bring Stegeman across. The Sioux responded with another three runs in the bottom of the frame, with Gaustad tallying an RBI single and Puerling driving in a pair on a double to center field.

An RBI double by Katie Jordan bumped Dayton's lead to 12-7 in the top of the fifth, but the Sioux again managed to craft a strong response in their half of the inning. Amber Roth drove in two runs with a double to left-center, followed by a run-scoring single by Gaustad and another run that crossed on an RBI groundout by Puerling - her third RBI of the day. Dayton tacked on another tally in the top of the sixth to push their lead to 13-11 on a double by Meyer, but North Dakota answered again to tie things up after six full innings. The Sioux plated the tying runs on a double by Rehberger, who brought Rhonda Nelk and Maddy Ackerman around to score.

After reliever Alicia Pearce held Dayton scoreless in the top of the seventh, Puerling provided the heroics to make Pearce the winner. Dayton's Erin Lafayette was saddled with the loss. Dayton returns to action immediately in their final game of the weekend, a tilt with South Dakota State, while North Dakota will conclude its play in the Dome against host team UNI in a game scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.