KARI GIBB/MDN Minot North’s Kinzy Welstad pitches against visiting West Fargo Sheyenne on Friday afternoon.

The Minot North Sentinel softball team hosted the Wells Fargo Sheyenne Mustangs for a doubleheader at the South Hill Softball Complex. The undefeated Mustangs, who sit atop the Eastern Dakota Conference (EDC), did well at the plate scoring wins in game one at 18-3 and game two was a 14-2 win.

Sheyenne 18, Minot North 3

Sheyenne scored the first seven runs of the game, before Minot North finally crossed the plate in the bottom of the third inning when Kate Coleman hit a double in the third inning to score Kinzy Welstad and Eliese McCann.

The Sentinels’ Tieryn Hertz hit an inside the park home run in the fourth to add to the offense. The Sentinels were unable to string more of those moments together to have enough runs to keep pace with the Mustangs, who erupted for eight runs in the top of the fifth inning to seal the win.

Minot North went 5-20 at the plate. Welstad was 2-3 batting, scoring a run and Coleman was 1-3 at the plate with two RBIs in the effort. McCann was 1-2 batting, scoring a run while Hertz had the same stat line in the game.

Welstad pitched the entire game, allowing 18 runs on 18 hits, seven unearned due to multiple fielding errors. She recorded two strikeouts in the game.

Sheyenne 14, Minot North 2

In game two, Sheyenne took a 14-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth before Minot North got onto the scoreboard. Mya Bagwell got onto first base to start the fourth and stole both second and third base. She scored on a fielder’s choice that saw Hailey Holte reach base on a fielding error.

In the fifth, Coleman reached first on a grounder, while Cadey Shipman followed her with her own grounder to advance Coleman to second. Hertz kept the rally alive with yet another grounder to load the bases. With two outs, both Coleman and Shipman worked to advance with stolen bases. Coleman scored while Shipman was thrown out at third to cut the Sentinels’ rally short.

Sheyenne went 9-24 at the plate with 13 batters walked compared to seven stuck out. Minot North continued to struggle at the plate, going 4-21 in game two with only three batters walked against three strikeouts. The Sentinels did play a much cleaner game with no errors while Sheyenne committed three in game two.

Welstad, Hertz and Shipman were 1-3 batting while Holte was 1-2 at the plate and added one RBI in the effort. Aven Kelley pitched 1 1/3 innings and allowed 11 runs on three hits, seven earned runs, while Hertz pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief and allowed three runs on six hits, three earned in the effort. The pitchers walked 13 Mustangs and struck out seven.

Sheyenne improves to 7-0 overall, remaining 3-0 in the EDC, while Minot North drops to 3-6-1 on the season.

Minot North travels to Watford City on Monday, April 15 to play the Wolves.