Sports

Ladyjacks see record-setting season end

By Staff reports

05/13/2014

ROCHESTER, Minn. - Coming into the 2014 softball season, the biggest number of wins the Dakota College at Bottineau Ladyjacks had ever put together in one campaign was 10.
That’s a record that no longer stands, though, and not by a long way.

DCB finished its 2014 slate with a 23-9 record last weekend after bowing out at the NJCAA Region XIII championships in Rochester, Minn. Rochester Community and Technical College, the host team of the regional finals, won the Region XIII event and will now take part in the NJCAA Division III softball national championships, which will also take place in Rochester.

BRIGHT STARS

The Ladyjacks opened the Region XIII finals relatively brightly Friday by outlasting St. Cloud Tech (Minn.) by a 6-5 count. DCB never trailed in the game after scoring two runs in the first inning and another three in the third.

The Cyclones made things interesting with two runs of their own in the fourth inning and another pair in the top of the sixth to tie the game at 5-5. Ladyjacks first-baseman Dariann Freer then scored what stood up as the game-winning run in the bottom half of that same frame before Tech failed to push another run across in the top of the seventh.

Lead-off batter and shortstop Heidy Riley came up big at the dish for the Ladyjacks, accounting for two base hits from the three times she stepped to the plate against the Cyclones.

Outfielder Paige Hollinger also went 2-for-3 at the plate for DCB, while pitcher Bethany Coleman scored twice in the winning effort.

DCB played again later that day but found itself on the other side of another 6-5 decision after falling in a close game against Rochester in eight innings.

The Ladyjacks outhit the Yellowjackets 7-6 in DCB’s second game of the day, but a four-run sixth inning from the hosts gave Rochester all the momentum before they ended the game in the eighth.

Riley was a force at the plate again against the Yellowjackets, once again going 2-for-3 and, this time, scoring three runs of her own.

SEASON ENDS

Unfortunately for the Ladyjacks, their season then ended Saturday in a 5-2 loss to Riverland (Minn.), the No. 4 seed in  the four-team field. Rochester then beat Riverland to move on to the NJCAA national championships.

The Blue Devils jumped out to a 3-0 lead with one run in Saturday’s second inning and two in the third. DCB got on the board with one run in the sixth inning from Riley and another in the seventh from outfielder Danielle Gibson, but that wasn’t enough.

The end of DCB’s season means the end of six Ladyjacks softball players’ time in Bottineau. Coleman, Freer, Gibson, Riley, Jess Carson and Amber Gabel have all now finished their second and final seasons at the school.