Softball Opens Up Season in South Dakota

The Royals softball team started their season on January 30^th and 31^st in Aberdeen SD playing teams from Iowa and Nebraska. In the first two games on Sunday January 30^th, the Royals went 1-1 against Iowa Western Community College. Game 1 they lost in 5 innings by the score of 11-1. Alex Chapman started pitching the game and was relieved by Jaylin Joss. They combined giving up 8 hits over the 5 innings, walking 6 and giving up 3 homeruns. Jacey Ledochowski went 2 for 2 at the plate and had the lone RBI. Ainsley Olson, Brynn Cullen, Breelyn Cloet each had one hit. As a team, the Royals had 8 struck outs against the Iowa Western pitchers, Emily Brouse and Sage Copeland.

In game 2, the Royals were led by pitcher Ainsley Olson who pitched 6 and a third innings giving up 4 runs and had 4 strikeouts. Taryn Cappo pitched the other two-thirds of an inning giving up 2 runs. The Royals got the win with a final score of 7-6. In the game, Samantha Shumway had a big 2-run homerun in the first to push the team in front. Olson was able to hold the Reivers from Iowa Western down until they scored 2 in the fourth to tie the game. In the top of the 7^th with the score 4-2 in favor of Iowa Western, the Royals scored 5 runs. Taryn Cappo and Breelyn Cloet each singled, Kalli Rhoton reached on an error then Ainsley Olson doubled to score Cappo. Two batters later, Jacey Ledochowski doubled off the fence scoring two more, later scoring off of Jaylin Joss double. The Royals were able to hang on for the win giving up two runs in the bottom of the seventh.

On day 2 the Royals played Northeast Community College dropping both games by the scores of 13-27 and 5-10. In both games the Northeast CC Hawks were able to score big in the later parts of the games to pull away. In the first game, the Hawks scored 4 runs in each of the first 3 innings taking a 12-8 lead. The Royals were able to score 2 runs in the first and 6 runs in the third. But in the 4^th inning, the wheels fell off and the Hawks scored 15 runs. Several walks combined with 2 homeruns enabled the Northeast CC team to keep the barrage of runs happening. At the plate for the Royals, they were led by Samantha Shumway who went 3 for 4 with 2 doubles and a triple, scored 3 runs included a stolen base to home. Brynn Cullen and Breelyn Cloet each had 2 hits. Kalli Rhoton, Jacey Ledochowski, Jaylin Joss and Jasmine Molina each had hits. Ainsley Olson had a homerun. On the mound for the Royals, 4 different pitchers made appearances.

The second game of the day against Northeast CC started out well for the Royals, they took the lead in the first scoring one. The NCC Hawks scored 2 in the second. The Royals were behind 4-2 in the bottom of the 7^th and scored 2 runs to tie the game. There were chances to score more but they came up short sending the game in extra innings. Ainsley Olson pitched the first 6 innings giving up 4 runs and was relieved by Jaylin Joss. Joss shut the Hawks down in the 7^th but couldn't hold on in the 8^th giving up 6 runs. The final score ended up 5-10. For the game, Ainsley Olson and Alex Chapman each had 2 hits. Samantha Shumway, Tesia Hrom, Brynn Cullen, Breelyn Cloet, and Jaylin Joss each had a hit. The Royals went 1-3 for the games in Aberdeen and are set to play again February 11^th and 12^th in the Mon-Dak preconference tournament.