HELENA, Mont. - The Carroll College Softball team picked up a day one split in their weekend series against Dakota State, dropping the first 3-2 while winning 3-0 in the nightcap aon Valley Bank Field at Nelson Stadium on Friday.

GAME ONE: Dakota State 3 - Carroll 2

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The Carroll bats were ice cold for much of Friday's series-opening loss, as the Fighting Saints (12-12, 7-7) tallied just five hits.

An error in center allowed Dakota State to go in front in the top of the second, erasing Kennedy Venner's (Billings, Mont. / SR) four strikeouts through the first six outs.

Venner would wind up going all seven innings for the Saints, striking-out at least one batter in every inning except the fifth, finishing her start with her fourth double-digit strikeout game of the year.

The lead doubled in the fifth, as four DSU hits would give the Trojans plenty of traffic on the base paths. Brenley Goebel drove in a run with a single up the middle, before Carroll finally got out of the frame with limited damage.

Ella Seaman (Belgrade, Mont. / SO) led off the bottom of the frame with a single into left, and would eventually score Carroll's first run two batters later with Kati Slater (Yamhill, Ore. / SR) picking up the RBI.

The Trojans extended the lead to three runs in the sixth, with three more hits in the inning scoring one.

Ella Seaman (Belgrade, Mont. / SO) led off the bottom of the frame with a single into left, and would eventually score Carroll's first run two batters later with Kati Slater (Yamhill, Ore. / SR) picking up the RBI.

No strangers to dramatic finishes, Carroll made things interesting in the seventh. A pinch-hitting Jasmine Barela (Beaverton, Ore. / JR) smashed an RBI double to the fence in left-center, bringing the Saints within one. Seaman stepped up with a runner in scoring position and two outs, but her shot into center would come up short of the fence as DSU took game one, 3-2.

GAME TWO: Carroll 3 - Dakota State 0

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McKinley Ermshar (Battleground, Wash. / SO) got the nod in the nightcap, twirling her best game of the season to clear the way for a Carroll win.

Ermshar tossed a two-hit, complete game shutout, giving up just one walk while striking-out six in an impressive outing.

Brooke Thompson (Billings, Mont. / JR) led-off the second inning with a thunderous ground rule double, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored courtesy of a Seaman sacrifice fly two batters later to give Carroll a 1-0 lead.

Thompson doubled again to lead-off the fourth frame, this time coming around on an RBI single to left by Carlee Smith (Blackfoot, Idaho / JR) to double the lead at 2-0.

A lead-off drag bunt by Kati Slater in the fifth inning set the Saints up for success in the frame, as Sammie Labrum (Kalispell, Mont. / SR) would pick up an RBI on a sharp grounder to short to help Carroll close out the cruise-control victory.

Thompson, Smith, and Tayelynn Puyleart (Meridian, Idaho / FR) each finished with a pair of hits in the win.

Another twin-bill to wrap up the weekend series is on deck tomorrow, as the Saints and Trojans will close things out at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.