Darian Bender/Photos by Noah Clooten
The Lake Region State College softball team wrapped up its regular season with a tough series against second-place Dawson Community College (33-13, 20-4) this past weekend. The Royals (13-31, 8-16) lost all four games over the two days, falling to fifth place out of seven teams in the Mon-Dak Athletic Conference.
They had been in fourth place entering the weekend, but Williston State College (11-25-1, 9-15) squeezed ahead of them.
The Royals’ 7-3 loss in the first game on Saturday turned out to be the closest of the four games. They trailed only 3-2 after four innings, but gave up a three-spot in the fifth. Their best pitcher, Darian Bender, threw all seven innings. Maggie Bender stayed hot at the plate with two hits, including a double, and two RBIs, while Megan Green added two hits. But the LRSC offense only recorded one additional hit.
A seven-run third inning sunk the Royals in Game 2. They battled back for three in the bottom half, but allowed four more in the fourth and two in the fifth, en route to getting run-ruled, 13-3. Madison Dauphinais gave up 11 runs and didn’t get through the fourth inning.
M. Bender hit her second double of the day, adding two more RBIs. She ended up finishing the season with by far the best slugging percentage on the team at .745. The next-best marks were Ella Neider’s .552 and D. Bender’s .523. Maggie’s OBP was narrowly higher than Darian’s as well, with .470 compared to .466.
M. Bender wasn’t quite as successful in the circle. She started the first game on Sunday and allowed 12 runs in 2 2/3 innings. The Buccaneers scored 11 in the third, leading to another run-rule win, 14-2. Whitney Rozdeba went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.
The final game of the weekend was a 23-10 slugfest. The Royals got out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning, but surrendered three in the bottom half and four in the second inning to make it a 7-7 game.
Then they allowed 13 runs in the third inning — another mammoth frame that put the game away.
Rozdeba allowed 11 runs and only got two outs. She came back into the game in the third inning after failing to get through the first, but still had trouble navigating the DCC offense, which led the conference with a .401 team batting average. Maggie and Darian Bender allowed four and eight runs, respectively, in relief.
Madden Wiebe hit a grand slam in the first inning that fueled the Royals’ early advantage. It was her first home run of the season. M. Bender also hit two more doubles, and D. Bender collected three hits.
LRSC finished last in the conference in team batting average, OBP and slugging percentage. It was an offense-dominated conference, as the Royals’ average was still .289. Their 14 home runs ranked second-to-last, ahead of Dakota College at Bottineau’s five. First-place North Dakota State College of Science smashed a whopping 57, in addition to hitting .373.
The gap from the most to least RBIs was startling — DCC’s 394 compared to Bottineau’s 19. LRSC had a respectable 204, one of three teams in the 200s.
Pitching was a struggle for the Royals, with an 8.75 team ERA. It was still far better than Bottineau’s 16.10, but worse than the other five teams in the conference. First-place NDSCS had a sparkling 2.75 mark, despite, interestingly enough, walking more batters than any other team in the conference. The team that walked the second-most batters? LRSC, with 165. It was the only team besides Bottineau to walk more batters than it struck out.
D. Bender’s 5.78 ERA led the team, as did her 95 2/3 innings pitched. The Royals’ season could have gone far worse if not for her consistent efforts.
LRSC’s season isn’t over just yet, with the playoffs coming up. It’s scheduled for a 10 a.m. MT game on Thursday on the road against Williston State College.
