VERMILLION -- The University of South Dakota softball team dropped a pair of one-run decisions to Chadron State College on Tuesday afternoon at Nygaard Field. Chadron State defeated USD, 1-0, in game one and 4-3 in 10 innings in game two.

By dropping both games of the doubleheader, the Coyotes fell to 7-8 on the season. The Eagles improved to 11-9-1.

Chadron State's Cassie Williams earned wins in both games as she raised her record to 9-5 on the season. Williams threw a complete game and allowed just two hits while striking out 12 Coyote batters in game one.

The Eagles scored the only run of the game when Katelyn Moore scored on Williams' RBI single in the third inning. The Coyotes received hits from Tagney Jones and Brittany Donohue. Mel Johnson took the loss for the Coyotes as her record fell to 2-1 on the season. Johnson allowed eight hits and one run with two strikeouts in seven innings of work.

In game two, Williams again picked up the win as she allowed three hits while recording five strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings. Chadron State's Cassie Humphrey went 6 1/3 innings before leaving the game in the bottom of the seventh inning.

USD freshman Cortney Heim took the loss as her record dropped to 3-2. Heim allowed six hits, including four runs (three earned), in 10 innings of work. She recorded nine strikeouts and walked just two hitters.

In game two, the Coyotes opened up a 1-0 lead when Jones scored on Donohue's single to right field in the first inning. The Eagles took a 2-1 lead after solo home runs from Erica Colbert in the second inning and Humphrey in the third.

South Dakota tied the game in the bottom of the fourth inning when Shara Thompson tripled and scored on Emily Chvatal's (Jr., Malmo, Neb.) ground out.

The Coyotes grabbed a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning when pinch runner Lexie Eversley (Fr., Yankton) scored on a two-out single by Donohue, who had two hits and two RBIs in the game.

Chadron State answered with a run in the top of the sixth inning. After Allison Hendricks opened the inning with a double, pinch runner Andrea Wyman scored on a single by Jenn Seville.

The game remained deadlocked until the 10th inning when the international tie-breaking rule was put into play. Chadron State broke the tie when Katelyn Moore scored on a ground out by Hendricks.

Jones had four hits in game two and was 5-of-7 in the doubleheader as she raised her batting average to .422 on the season. Thompson and Chvatal both had two hits in game two.

USD will return to action this weekend (March 29-30) when they participate in the Nebraska-Omaha Tournament in Omaha, Neb. The Coyotes open play at the tournament against Southwest Minnesota State on Saturday.