Photo by Peyton Bartsch Kirsten Galloway (22) of Minot High on the mound against the Red River Roughriders during the 2023 NDHSAA Class A Softball State Tournament on Friday.

FARGO – After dealing with weather that shifted the 2023 NDHSAA Class A Softball State Tournament schedule, Friday made way for the Minot High Majettes to get their semifinal game in against the Grand Forks Red River Roughriders in the afternoon.

It was a high-stakes contest, as a spot in the state tournament championship game was on the line. Minot was hoping to make it back to the title game for the first time since 2018, while the Roughriders were fighting for their first title game bid since 2010.

While these teams met during the regular season in which Minot walked away with a 16-3 victory, Majettes head coach Gerard Cederstrom acknowledged that Red River has been a much-improved team since then, and he expects this to be a big test for Minot.

Eliminating any chance of Red River spoiling Minot’s plans to make it back to the title game was Kirsten Galloway, who was dominant on the mound and got a boost from Minot’s defense as they earned a spot in the state title game with an 8-0 win.

“The girls are pretty happy, they are proud of how they played. From the start of the game, we went out and played hard, and we played hard all the way through the final out. It was just fun to watch,” said Cederstrom.

The Roughriders did something well that teams have struggled with by making consistent contact against Galloway. In their first trip to the plate, Red River put three balls in play, but Minot stepped up defensively and continued to throughout the contest.

“They were all spot on, they were running balls down. Ellington Anderson ran down balls in left field, Taury Hight ran one down to right center. Our outfield got after it and our infield was not letting anything through. They were diving for balls, and it was fun to watch everybody get after it.” Cederstrom said on Minot’s defense.

Being someone who typically can pile up strikeouts, Galloway showed that she can be more than a swing and miss pitcher by not letting the Roughriders generate anything at the plate.

It wasn’t until there were two outs in the seventh inning that Red River got their first hit of the game on a double from Rylie McQuillan. Galloway threw all seven innings, allowing no runs on one hit with four strikeouts.

At the plate, the Majettes got on the board in the bottom of the second when Halle Baker tripled, then scored on a double from Sydnee Bartsch to make it a 1-0 game. One inning later, that lead grew when Kinsey Fjeld added an RBI single, and Cierra Erickson added an RBI double to give the Majettes a 3-0 advantage.

Following a brief pause in their offense attack, the Majettes ballooned their lead in the fifth as they kept pushing to put the game out of reach. Taury Hight and Ellington Anderson scored on an error to tack on two more runs, then RBI singles from the same duo in the sixth brought the game to its final of 8-0.

Erickson led the way for Minot at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI, followed by E. Anderson who went 2-for-4 with an RBI, Fjeld who went 2-for-3 with an RBI, Bartsch who went 2-for-3 with an RBI, and Falcon who went 0-for-3 with two RBI.

Heading into the state title game, Minot will keep the same mentality that they have all season. “Business as usual, that’s our approach. We get after it from the start, and we try to win every inning. It’s all a bunch of little battles. That’s how we approach it and how we play, and we are going to continue to do that,” Cederstrom said.

It will be a West Region battle in the state title game, as the Minot Majettes are set to face Dickinson at 3 p.m. this afternoon for the biggest prize in their sport.