COLUMBUS, GA-Julie Fromm pitched a three-hit complete game to lead North Dakota State to a 3-1 win over Bloomsburg University at the NCAA Division II Softball Championships in Columbus, GA.

The Bison took advantage of some shaky Bloomsburg fielding to score their first run in the opening inning. Nikki Flynn-Gregg, with over 400 career hits, reached on a single, moving to second on an error by Michele Dreistadt. The next batter, Jess Christensen, bunted the ball and Kerri Cooper threw into right field allowing Flynn-Gregg to score.

North Dakota State made it 2-0 in the second when Gerice Olson hit a solo homer to right field to lead off the inning.

The Bison made it 3-0 in the fourth when Olson walked with two outs, moved to second on a single by Fromm and scored when Erica Miller threw wild on a grounder off the bat of Molly Pufall.

Bloomsburg cut the deficit to 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh when Anderson, who picked off two runners and threw another out stealing, homered with one out. The next two batters struck out, though, ending the game for the Huskies.

Bloomsburg had a great scoring chance in the bottom half of the fourth when Tanya Heath singled with one out for the Huskies first hit. After Miller popped out, Vanessa Sterner was hit by a pitch, putting runners at first and second. The runners moved to second and third on a passed ball before Anderson struck out to end the inning.

The Huskies were kept off pace the entire game by Fromm, popping numerous balls up to shortstop and third base. Miller came close to hitting one out, but the ball was pulled foul.

The Huskies will now drop to the loser's bracket and face an elimination game against West Florida Saturday at noon.

"Kerri did a great job of keeping North Dakota off balance, but we were hurt by the early errors and the lack of hitting throughout our lineup," said coach Jan Hutchinson. "We will need to be more focused Saturday against West Florida which has scored 22 runs in two games."

The Huskies move to 48-11-1, while North Dakota improved to 65-10.

NCAA Softball-Game Seven

North Dakota State 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 7 0

Bloomsburg 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 4

Pitching

WP-Julie Fromm, 7 IP, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K

LP-Kerri Cooper, 7 IP, 1 ER, 3 BB, 5 K

Batting

NDS-Nikki Flynn-Gregg, 3-4, RS; Julie Fromm, 2-3

BU-Melanie Anderson, 1-3, solo HR; Tanya Heath, 1-3; Liza Pepper, 1-2