CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Southern Utah softball team opened a three-game series with the North Dakota Fighting Hawks Friday by splitting the afternoon doubleheader.

Game One: SUU 3, UND 0

It was all Thunderbirds in game one as Haley Wall threw a three-hit shutout and a late three-run inning gave Southern Utah the 3-0 win.

The first two innings saw three double plays with the Thunderbirds turning two of them on line drive outs. There were only five hits through the first five innings and three of them belonged to SUU.

Sarah Murphy broke things open in the sixth as she led off the inning with a solo home run to left center. Nicole Simonson, Taylei Williams, and Kalei Watkins all singled behind Murphy's home run with Watkins' single bringing home two runs to make it 3-0.

Wall cruised through all seven innings of work, allowing just three hits and never more than one hit in an inning. The senior walked four while striking out two Fighting Hawks in the victory. The win moves her to 3-6 on the season.

Simonson finished the game 2-for-3 with a run scored. Five other Thunderbirds were able to collect at least one hit in the win.

Game Two: SUU 8, UND 10

The UND offense wasted no time getting started in game two as five hits off starting pitcher Kalei Watkins in the first inning quickly made it 4-0. They used two more hits in the second inning to tack on two more runs and make it 6-0 after two innings of play.

Southern Utah used a four-run fourth inning to get on the board in game two as Kendall Kapitzke hit a two-RBI double to right center followed by a two-run home run from Kaitlin Williams to make it 6-4.

The Fighting Hawks extended their lead in the fifth to 9-4 with an RBI single and a sacrifice fly.

Murphy hit her second home run of the day in the bottom half of the fifth inning with Mikaela Thomson on base to make it 9-6.

After UND made it 10-6 in the sixth, the Thunderbirds launched a seventh-inning rally in an attempt to walk it off. Murphy opened the inning with a double and Simonson followed with a single of her own. Both would advance on a wild pitch during the next at bat, giving Murphy her third run scored of the game and making it 10-7.

After Taylei Williams grounded out and Kapitzke was hit by a pitch, Watkins made it 10-8 with a single up the middle. That was far as the rally would go however, as the Thunderbirds lost game two 10-8.

Samantha Guile pitched 5.1 innings of relief in game two, giving up just five hits and three earned runs while striking out four Fighting Hawks. Kaitlin Williams finished the game 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs.

Murphy and Simonson both had a big day going a combined 7-for-13 with seven runs scored and three RBIs between them.

The two teams will be back in action tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at Kathryn Berg Field to play game three of the series.

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