It’s hard to believe, but the Lake Region State College sports season is already coming to an end.
The Royals played their final weekday games of the regular season this past week. Both diamond sports traveled to Williston State College on Wednesday; then, the softball team returned home against the University of Jamestown JV on Thursday. The softball squad went 2-2 over the two doubleheaders, while the baseball team lost both games of its doubleheader against WSC.
Softball star Darian Bender pitched a complete game in the Royals’ 9-2 win on Wednesday. She also recorded a pair of doubles at the plate. Whitney Rozdeba notched three hits in the victory, including an RBI double in a five-run sixth inning that put the game away.
The only two runs Bender allowed came in the third. She didn’t permit a walk in her outing, and limited the Tetons to nine hits overall.
Things didn’t go as well in the circle for Rozdeba, who surrendered seven runs in 2 2/3 innings in Game 2. The Tetons put up six in the bottom of the third. She went 3-for-3 at the plate though, and the Royals scored two in each of the fourth and fifth innings to cut their deficit to 7-6. But Maggie Bender allowed two in the sixth inning, and the Royals’ offense didn’t have a response in the 9-6 defeat.
Over on the baseball side in Williston, neither game was close. The Royals lost 15-5 and 11-3.
Jacob Warnke had a strange outing in the first game where he allowed eight runs in three innings, but none of the runs were earned. He only allowed four hits, but he walked six. LRSC made five errors in only five innings.
The Royals went with a bullpen game in the nightcap, using five pitchers over seven innings. Each pitcher allowed at least a run. Marshel Herman recorded two hits at the plate, improving his batting average to .366 and OBP to .473.
Then in the softball team’s home doubleheader against Jamestown JV on Thursday, the Royals lost 14-4 and won 11-7.
M. Bender hit a grand slam in the fourth inning of Game 1. Unfortunately for LRSC, Bender had already surrendered 13 runs (eight earned) in the first three innings. D. Bender relieved her and also allowed a run, but got through 2 2/3 innings in one piece.
The nightcap was a tighter affair. The teams traded a run in the first inning, then traded two-spots in the second. The Royals scored three in the third inning to jump ahead 6-3, which included a two-run double by Avery Kamelchuk.
Rozdeba, who started in the circle, surrendered a two-out, two-run single to cut the lead to 6-5 in the fifth. The Royals responded with five in the sixth. They drew a pair of walks, and D. Bender knocked them both in with a double. M. Bender hit her second homer of the day, giving her a team-leading six on the season.
Rozdeba came one out short of completing the game. She gave up a run in the seventh, but Tania Yamamoto got the final out to secure the victory.
The softball team ended Thursday with a 13-27 overall record, and 8-12 in conference play. That puts them fourth out of eight teams in the Mon-Dak Athletic Conference.
The baseball team, meanwhile, fell to 8-26 overall and 3-17 in conference games. That puts the Royals last in the conference, behind 4-14 Dawson Community College.
They wrap up the regular season with four games each against Dawson Community College over the weekend.
