Sheyenne Mustangs fall short against Dickinson in ND Class A softball quarterfinals

FARGO — After a lengthy weather delay, the third quarterfinal of the North Dakota Class A state softball tournament between West Fargo Sheyenne and Dickinson finally got underway three hours after its originally scheduled time.

Consistent scoring by Dickinson — with one run scored in each of the first three innings — put the Midgets in control early. However, it was a strong finish in the seventh inning that sealed the 8-6 win as Dickinson retired Mustang batters Quinn Thompson, Briley Thompson and Kyra Narum in order.

“We’re moving on to the semis and it feels good to move on to day two,” said Dickinson coach Amanda Mickey. “It was a perfect time to get 1-2-3 out in that last inning. That’s exactly what we wanted.”

Ava Jahner earned the win for Dickinson, going the distance and allowing six runs on six hits. She walked six and struck out seven strikeouts. Mickey pitched the last inning, which served to get Jahner tuned up for Friday’s semifinal.

“It gives Ava some confidence going into tomorrow’s game,” she said. “It was one of her biggest struggles and she pulled through. Her defense had her back and we put up runs on the board.”

While Sheyenne took momentary leads in the third and fourth innings, three Dickinson runs in the fourth put the Midgets back in control.

Two more Dickinson runs in the fifth — with Gabriella Sobolik and Myah Merry scoring on a double by Jenna Decker — helped maintain the Midgets buffer over the Mustangs.

Sheyenne’s Kyra Narum and Autumn McGough each toed the rubber for three innings. Narum started the game and McGough finished things up. The pair combined to give up seven earned runs on 10 hits. They walked five and struck out five.

The Mustangs’ Kate Geiszler was 2 for 2 with three RBIs.

Despite sticking with Dickinson for most of the game, Sheyenne coach Mark Woodbury said the Mustangs just weren’t able to respond when they needed to.

“We had momentum and scored three runs and took the lead but Dickinson is a good team and they came back and hit the ball well,” said Woodbury “We need to answer when teams do that. When they hit the ball and score a couple runs, we need to answer and we just weren’t able to do that today.”

As for who the teams will play in their respective games Friday, it’s still unknown.

The final quarterfinal game of the day, between the East No. 1 West Fargo and West No. 4 Bismarck Century was postponed until Friday morning at 10 a.m. due to the weather delay and lack of lighting at Tharaldson Park.

The winner of that game will play the West No. 2 Dickinson Midgets while the loser will face the No. 3 East Sheyenne Mustangs.

All games following the 10 a.m. quarterfinal will be played on a rolling schedule with 35 minutes between games.