May-Port-C-G softball seniors leading team to undefeated start
Apr. 30—GRAND FORKS — May-Port-C-G softball faced two of the Top 5-ranked teams in North Dakota Class B last weekend.
The No. 2-ranked Patriots gave up two hits and two walks total against No. 1 Beulah and No. 5 Des Lacs-Burlington in Minot on April 27.
Senior Rylee Satrom pitched a 115-pitch complete game against Beulah, the team that ended the Patriots' season in the Class B state semifinals last spring.
This time, May-Port-C-G grabbed a 3-1 win over Beulah.
"That's the most that she's thrown this year," coach Keenan Konschak said. "The most she's pitched was into the fourth inning. She just really wanted that one ... (it was) a revenge game."
Senior Danica Hanson pitched an efficient 78-pitch shutout in the second game, a 6-0 win. It was a solid showing for a player Konschak called "underrated."
"I don't know if people know about her very much because of Rylee," he said, "but she threw 78 pitches in seven innings, which is just unheard of."
The two wins continued the Patriots' undefeated start to the season. May-Port-C-G is averaging 12.6 runs per game over their seven-game win streak.
The Patriots have outscored opponents 88-6 to begin the season.
Still, Konschak said May-Port-C-G has had a slow start to the year.
"We have some good pitching," he said. "Our defense is doing just enough. Once we get our bats going, we're going to be a real problem for other teams."
Catcher Raina Satrom's poise behind the plate has contributed to the Patriots' pitching success. She's played alongside her twin Rylee and Hanson for years, plenty of time to understand what sequences and locations work for each pitcher.
Five of the six seniors on the softball team — the Satroms, Hanson, Maysa Larson and Raegen Zerface — have reached the state tournament in multiple sports over the past year.
They took the softball team to the state semifinals last spring as juniors.
In the fall, they led May-Port to a volleyball state runner-up finish after not making a trip to the state tournament since 2002.
Then, this winter, the Patriots dominated Class B girls basketball en route to a state championship with a team also coached by Konschak. It was the first girls basketball state appearance for May-Port since 2001.
Now, the Patriots are set up to make another state softball tournament run.
"It's unreal. Just the level of these girls is remarkable," Konschak said. "They had their goals, obviously, that they wanted to set for this year, and to get them going right away in the volleyball season like that ... I could tell right away when I was watching those games that these girls were much faster, stronger, and just looked way more athletic even than the year before."
