May 5, 2018
NSAA SOFTBALL TOURNAMENT HEADQUARTER
ABERDEEN, S.D. – Dakota State (S.D.) and No. 15-ranked Jamestown (N.D.) met for the second time on the same day Saturday evening. The Jimmies shut down the Trojans 4-0 in the Gold Bracket's championship game of the North Star Athletic Association Softball Postseason Tournament at Players Softball Complex.
Dakota State, who was playing their third straight game Saturday, finished with the most overall wins for first time since the 2003 season (26 wins). The Trojans completed their season with an overall record of 21-30 and 13-15 NSAA conference record, the most conference wins since joining the North Star in 2013-14.
Jamestown, top-seeded in the conference tournament, breezed through the tournament with an undefeated record and advanced to Sunday's NSAA Championship Best-of-3 series versus No. 3 seed Dickinson State (N.D.). The Jimmies won their 18th straight game to lift their overall record to 42-6.
UJ took the first lead of the game at 1-0 in the bottom third after Emma Keller's RBI triple with two outs, scoring Sydney Prussia who reached on base by a walk. The Jimmies extended their lead to 3-0 after plating two runs in the bottom fourth (Kassi Ward's RBI double, followed by Meghan Ramage's RBI single).
Miriah Yoder drilled a triple to kick off the bottom fifth, followed by Keller's RBI ground out to score Yoder for UJ's 4-0 lead.
Dakota State could not score in the final inning as Jamestown secured the victory.
The Trojans had five hits in the game. Melissa Krapf had a double. Nicole Stewart, Audrey Kosman and Tatum Ronke each collected a single. Xitlali Lopez added a single, finishing with a DSU single-season school record of 70 hits (previous record held by Allison Hubers with 66 hits in 2006).
Keller led the Jimmies with a triple and two RBIs. Yoder added a triple and a run scored. Tifani Schorzman had two hits. Ward had a double and an RBI. Ramage registered a single and an RBI.
Lopez (L, 10-9) took the defeat in the pitching circle after tossing a complete game for DSU. She gave up four runs on six hits.
Brittany Rheault (W, 15-3) earned a complete game victory for Jamestown. She yielded five hits and recorded six strikeouts.
It was the final career collegiate softball game for Dakota State's senior Kelly Drake.
Nick Huntimer, Dakota State University Sports Information Director
