Nelson County/Midkota came home from Fargo with a tournament championship.
The Chargers softball team won the eight-team Meadowlark Bracket at the annual Midseason Madness event, which was held at North Softball Complex. They went 3-0 between Friday and Saturday, with all three wins of the run-rule variety. NC/M (11-3) outscored opponents 49-17.
That was despite starting all three games in a deficit.
It exemplifies what head coach Savannah Kueber said about her squad earlier this season: “This team has a lot of heart and a lot of fight. The best part about this team is we have no quit in us. It doesn’t matter how much we’re down by. It doesn’t matter how cold it is. It doesn’t matter who you are. We don’t care. We’re gonna battle the entire time. We’re gonna stay focused.”
The Chargers started with a 16-5 win over Tioga (2-8) on Friday. After trailing 2-0 through the first inning, they scored three in the second and eight in the third to roll ahead.
A four-run top of the fifth put NC/M in run-rule territory. Tioga scored two in the bottom half but still lost by 11. Mya Luehring struck out five batters and walked two in five innings of work in the circle.
The Chargers’ offense totaled 17 hits in five innings. They drew seven walks and didn’t strike out. All nine starters had at least one hit, while Kelsey Johnson and Carson Fossen each had a three-hit performance.
A couple of big innings fueled NC/M to a 14-3 win over Nedrose (2-10) on Saturday. Once again, the Chargers fell behind early, giving up three runs in the top of the first.
Their bats broke out in a nine-run third inning to go ahead 9-3. Johnson, Ella Lundeby, Jenna Sundeen, Rylee Flaagan and Luehring all had RBI hits. Luehring and Johnson each went 3-for-4 in the middle of the order.
Freshman Alexandrea Anderson pitched for the Chargers. She settled in after the three-run first, responding with four scoreless innings. Overall, she struck out seven and walked two in five innings of work. She limited Nedrose to three runs on five hits.
The Chargers scored five in the bottom of the fifth to walk it off by run rule. Flaagan, Luehring and Sundeen each recorded their second run-scoring hit of the game.
In the championship, which was also played Saturday, NC/M beat Washburn/Center-Stanton (5-5) by a score of 19-9.
Yet again, the Chargers were losing early in the game. This time, they trailed 6-0 after the first inning. With Luehring back in the circle, W/C-S rallied for five two-out runs in an early barrage.
NC/M got on the board with a two-out, two-run single by Fossen in the bottom of the second. Down 7-2, the Chargers took the lead with their own six-spot in the bottom of the third. Sundeen and Jassy Lee had RBI hits, and Fossen tied it with an RBI triple. Bailey Flaagan had an infield hit to score the go-ahead run.
NC/M briefly gave up the lead in the top of the fourth, but the Chargers poured it on with a seven-run rally in the bottom half. The first three batters of the frame walked. Fossen had an RBI infield hit to tie it, and B. Flaagan singled to the outfield to regain the lead. The Chargers added five runs with two outs, highlighted by a Luehring three-run triple.
It was 15-9 after four innings.
Luehring settled in to throw a 1-2-3 top of the fifth. For the second straight game, NC/M walked it off, this time on an RBI single by Lee to cap a four-run rally.
The Chargers totaled 21 hits and nine walks in four-plus innings. Luehring led them with a 4-for-4 performance, while B. Flaagan, Sundeen, Lee and Fossen each had three hits. R. Flaagan and Lundeby added two hits each.
The wins came ahead of the Chargers’ regular-season finale Tuesday against Larimore, which is a region game. NC/M enters the contest with a 4-3 region record, good for fourth place out of 10 teams in Region 2.
Larimore (5-7, 1-4) happened to be in the Chargers’ bracket at Midseason Madness, but the teams didn’t square off. Larimore finished in fifth place, beating Tioga 20-10 in the fifth-place game.
NC/M and Larimore are scheduled to square off Tuesday, May 12 at 4 p.m. in Larimore. The region tournament is being held in Thompson on May 18 and 19.
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