February 13, 2026

SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – Dakota State (S.D.) used a late RBI single from Alexia Hayden in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure a 3-2 walk-off victory over Briar Cliff (Iowa) in its season opener Friday afternoon at the American State Bank Sports Complex.  It was the first day of the dome preseason tournament, hosted by Dordt (Iowa).

The victory also gave DSU's head coach Hunter Lambdin his first career collegiate softball coaching win.  It was the first time that the Trojans had won the season opening game held at ASB Dome, with the last season opening victory coming in 2022 at the Presentation (S.D.) dome in Aberdeen. 

Briar Cliff, a member of the Great Plains Athletic Conference, fell to 1-5 overall record after going 0-2 record Friday (lost to Frontier Conference's foe Valley City State, N.D., 5-2 prior to this game).

How It Happened

After a scoreless first two innings, Dakota State struck first in the bottom of the third. Hannah McFarland delivered a single to left field that scored Gabrielle Ortega-Alves, who reached on base by BCU's defensive error and swiped to second base to start the bottom third, for a 1-0 lead.

The Trojans added another run in the fourth inning. Ortega-Alves singled to center and advanced to second, driving in Katherine Kiser to push the lead to 2-0.

Briar Cliff answered in the sixth inning. Sydney Mennenga singled home Montie Richter, and Lauryn Mattox followed with an RBI double to tie the game 2-2.

The game remained knotted until the bottom of the eighth under international tiebreaker rules. Lara Dolezal started the inning at second base, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Quincy Hartley, and scored on Hayden's RBI single to right field to give Dakota State the 3-2 victory.

At the Plate

Dakota State finished with 10 hits.

• Hannah McFarland went 3-for-4 with an RBI
• Gabrielle Ortega-Alves was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI
• Alexia Hayden finished 2-for-4 with the game-winning RBI
• Katherine Kiser added a hit and scored a run

Briar Cliff was limited to four hits.

• Sydney Mennenga went 1-for-3 with an RBI
• Lauryn Mattox was 1-for-2 with a double and an RBI
• M. Richter scored a run and had one hit

In the Circle

Grace Kitterman started for Dakota State, pitching six innings while allowing two runs on three hits with five strikeouts.  Maycee Bricker earned the win (W, 1-0), tossing two scoreless innings and striking out three times in relief.

For Briar Cliff, Mj Bannon allowed two runs on eight hits over four innings with seven strikeouts. Grace Batchelle (L, 0-1) took the loss after giving up one unearned run in 3 1/3 innings.

Up Next
Dakota State plays host-team Dordt (Iowa) in the second game of the American State Bank Sports Complex dome tournament at 6 p.m. Friday.