Red River's bats stay hot in 14-2 softball win over Central
Apr. 20—GRAND FORKS — Five games into the season, the Grand Forks Red River softball team has yet to play a game with the full seven innings.
On Saturday afternoon, the Roughriders jumped out to a five-run lead in the top of the first inning en route to a 14-2 win over Grand Forks Central at Oxford Sports Complex.
The Riders improved to 4-1, starting the conference schedule with back-to-back 10-run rule victories. Central dropped to 1-7.
"I think we've been playing really well," Red River pitcher Jocelyn Berg said. "We've been working hard in the offseason to play well this season. I think we've all been playing together so long, we all know how each other is going to play."
Berg threw a one-hitter and struck out 11.
Red River started the season indoors in early April with three games and a scrimmage in the Minot State bubble. The Riders split with Minot, a team ranked No. 2 in the latest state coaches' poll — one spot ahead of Red River.
"I think it was a good way to start out the season," said Red River's Ella Nelson, who was about a foot away from her first home run of the season on an RBI hit in the second inning against the Knights. "It was good to open up with a difficult team."
The Riders jumped out to a 5-0 lead against Central in Red River's first at-bat. Ella Speidel hit a single to center to score the first two runs.
Nelson led the Red River offensive with three hits and four runs batted in.
In the second inning, Red River's Brooklyn Soderberg started the rally with a triple and came around to score on Rylie McQuillan's single. Taylor Kilgore and Mya Mannausau also doubled in the inning, which ended with the Riders holding a 10-0 advantage.
Central was led by Kharleigh Larson, who was 1-for-2 with a run. Bailey Tebelius added an RBI.
"We have good young pitchers but our strongest point is our hitting," Red River coach Hannah-Rose Rodriguez said. "We're hitting the ball really well. If they keep putting the ball in play like that, it's going to win games for us."
Rodriguez said the Riders benefitted from the early trip to Minot.
"That was the best start to the season we could have asked for," Rodriguez said. "Coming back with two weeks off was tough but it was good competition. We saw some things we need to work on early on."
