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Lovelace hangs tough, Rovig’s home run leads Ryan softball past MLSKB

Alex Eisen/MDN Bishop Ryan senior shortstop Sealy Rovig sets herself to play defense as a pitch is thrown to the plate Thursday evening at the South Hill Softball Complex.

Sidney Lovelace dropped to the turf in agony. A line drive scorched back up the middle had drilled the senior pitcher directly in the stomach.

“Well, it hurt,” Lovelace said with a smile after the game. “It was a shock at first, but it motivated me to throw more strikes and strike them out.”

Shaking off the pain, Lovelace stayed in the circle to finish off a complete-game shutout Thursday evening against Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood/Kenmare/Bowbells.

The Ryan softball team improved to 5-2 overall (3-0 Sub-Region 3) with the 6-0 regional victory over MLSKB (5-2, 4-2 Sub-Region 3).

“It’s tough to watch one of your big seniors go down,” Ryan head coach Alec Grothe said about Lovelace. “But, she did exactly what I thought she would. She got back up and sucked it up.”

Alex Eisen/MDN MLSKB junior pitcher Janie Savelkoul winds up to throw a pitch Thursday against Bishop Ryan in Minot.

After two and a half scoreless innings, Ryan senior Sealy Rovig broke the deadlock in style. A deep fly ball off the fence in right center field had Rovig trucking around the bases.

With no stop sign in sight, she just kept on running.

“With two outs, I knew (MLSKB pitcher Janie Savelkoul) was going to come right at me,” Rovig said. “I swung as hard as I could, ran as hard as I could and it worked out. I thought maybe a triple at first. But, once I saw (Grothe) get a little excited and swinging his arm, I knew it was going to be a home run.”

The inside-the-park home run had Ryan up 2-0 through three innings.

“Sealy (Rovig) has been a dominant hitter for us all year long,” Grothe said. “She could have had three balls today that could have gone out. It’s great. She is seeing the ball like a beach ball.”

In the top of the fourth, Lovelace suffered the line drive back to the circle. The trainers looked Lovelace over for a few minutes before she got back to her feet and started pitching again.

“With Sidney (Lovelace) getting the wind knocked out of her, it kind of put some wind into us,” Rovig said. “It kind of makes you a little mad. If that was me, I’d be really, really mad. We had to get behind (Lovelace) because maybe she wouldn’t be playing her best and we would have to pick up the slack a little bit. But, that wasn’t the case at all.”

The Lions unleashed their roar against Savelkoul in the fifth inning. Savelkoul, who had kept Ryan in check for the most part, couldn’t prevent this domino effect.

Grace Candrian brought in the first run on a fielder’s choice, Abbie McKay ran out an infield RBI single, Sloane Hawk smacked an RBI double to left center and Lovelace capped things with an RBI ground out, 6-0.

The Mavericks had their opportunities in multiple innings but couldn’t find that clutch hit to drive in runners who were left stranded in scoring position.

Ryan’s defense made all the critical plays necessary.

“They have been doing phenomenal,” Lovelace said about her defense. “They catch every single fly ball. The infield is making great plays to first. It’s the best defense in the state, at least to me.”

The second game of the doubleheader, a junior varsity contest, was also won by Ryan, 5-4.

The Lions host regional rival Des Lacs-Burlington/Lewis & Clark at 4:30 p.m. Monday at the South Hill Softball Complex.

MLSKB is scheduled to play Washburn on the road Monday, starting at 4:30 p.m. as well.

Alex Eisen covers Minot State athletics, the Minot Minotauros and high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @AEisen13.

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