Sean Williams/MDN Tayler Falcon (13) of Minot High at the plate during a game that took place earlier this season at South Hill Softball Complex.

FARGO – The Minot High softball team already won one tournament this year when they captured their first West Region Tournament title in program history. On Thursday, they began the most important tournament of the year in the 2023 NDHSAA Class A Softball State Tournament.

“It’s business as usual, we approach things one game at a time and get after it. We look to do our best and win as many innings as possible, and hopefully come out on top,” Minot head coach Gerard Cederstrom said on his message to the team heading into the game.

To open state tournament play, the Majettes took on the Grand Forks Central Knights, who they faced earlier in the year when Minot was on the winning end of a lopsided game. In the state tournament, however, it feels like a new season, and anything can happen.

Carrying over their dominant play that they showed all year, the Majettes opened the state tournament with a 10-0 shutout win over the Knights on Thursday afternoon. Offensively, the Majettes utilized balanced scoring to propel themselves to victory.

“The girls are feeling pretty good, they took care of business. We are just gearing up for Grand Forks Red River,” Cederstrom said following the win.

Ellington Anderson set the tone for a quick Minot attack by walking, stealing a base, and scoring on a pop out to give the team a 1-0 lead in the first. Keeping the rally going, Tayler Falcon singled then scored on an RBI single from Isabelle Anderson, and Halle Baker added an RBI single of her own to help Minot claim a 3-0 lead at the end of the first.

Over the third and fourth innings, Minot proceeded to balloon their lead significantly by scoring three runs in each frame. In the third, Cierra Erickson and I. Anderson added a sacrifice fly each, then Sydnee Bartsch chipped in with an RBI single to give the Majettes a 6-0 lead.

In the fourth inning, consecutive singles by Taury Hight and E. Anderson led to a sacrifice fly from Kinsey Fjeld, then Erickson had an RBI double to push Minot’s lead to 9-0. To bring the game to its final of 10-0, Minot got one more run courtesy of a I. Anderson RBI single in the sixth.

While Minot was getting productive trips to the plate from everyone in the lineup, it was paired with another strong performance from starting pitcher Kirsten Galloway. In the shutout win, Galloway tossed five innings while allowing no runs on one hit with no walks and nine strikeouts.

Galloway struck out the side in the second and fifth innings and threw 49 of her 66 pitches for strikes. Raegan Terrel tossed the sixth inning, allowing no runs on no hits with one walk and two strikeouts.

At the plate, Minot was led by I. Anderson who went 2-for-3 with three RBI, followed by Erickson who went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBI, Fjeld who went 0-for-3 with two RBI, and Falcon who went 3-for-4.

With the win, Minot advances to the semifinals of the state tournament, where they will take on the Grand Forks Red River Roughriders at 4 p.m. this afternoon.

“It’s going to be a battle, they are a much-improved team from when we saw them a few weeks ago. I love the way they play and the way we play. I’m looking forward to a great test.”