While many were sleeping, Kate Coleman was delivering some late-night heroics in extra innings for the Minot North softball team.

Coleman drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning with a line drive single into right field to score Kinzi Welstad from third, giving the Sentinels a 5-4 victory over Grand Forks Red River on Tuesday, March 31, at the MSU Bubble. It was Coleman’s lone hit of the night, which came less than an hour before the calendar flipped over to April.

Welstad opened the ninth with a single to right field. She stole second on the second pitch of the at-bat to Tiecyn Hertz. Hertz reached base safely on an error at shortstop, moving Welstad over to third with no outs. Coleman delivered the game-winning hit on the first pitch she saw from Jocelyn Berg.

Hertz forced extra innings with a game-tying RBI double to center in the bottom of the seventh, scoring Welstad from second to tie the game 4-4. The Sentinels had the winning run on third with one out, but couldn’t drive Hertz home. Aven Kelly lined out to second and Mya Bagwell struck out looking.

The Sentinels (2-0) again stranded the game-winning run on third base in the eighth before winning it the next inning. The Roughriders went down in order in the eighth and put runners on first and second with two outs in the ninth, but Welstad collected her third strikeout of the game to end the threat.

Welstad and Berg both pitched the entire game. Welstad earned the win, allowing four runs – three earned – on nine hits while striking out three and walking two. She threw a total of 106 pitches. Berg suffered the loss, striking out 13 batters in 8+ innings pitched. She allowed five runs – four earned – on eight hits and walked five.

Both teams plated a run in the opening frame before the Sentinels took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on an RBI single by Mylee Ackerman to score Kelly.

The Roughriders countered with three runs in the fifth. Ella Speidel and Berg delivered back-to-back RBI doubles and Sydney Worden followed with an RBI single.

Minot North got one back in the bottom half of the inning thanks to one of two Red River errors on the night.

Welstad, Hertz and Ackerman all had multiple hits for Minot North.

Less than 12 hours later, the Sentinels were back in the MSU Bubble to take on Grand Forks Central, and the bats weren’t hindered by the short turnaround. The Sentinels collected six extra-base hits and 20 hits in total in a 19-9 victory over the Knights on Wednesday, April 1.

Kelly went 3-for-3 with a home run, double, three RBIs and five runs scored. All nine batters recorded at least one hit and drove in at least one run. Welstad, Coleman and Eliese McCann had three hits each and Bagwell and Cole Kotaska each had two. Coleman and McCann both drove in three runs. Coleman and Hertz tripled and Burckhard and Bagwell doubled.

The Sentinels fell behind early, surrendering three runs in the top of the first inning, but responded with six in the bottom half and another in the second. The Knights rallied to tie the game with a four-run third, but Minot North went on to score 12 of the final 14 runs.

Kelly’s two-run home run came in the fifth inning on the first pitch she saw from Central’s Rowan Fontaine.

The Sentinels initiated the mercy rule with six runs in the sixth. Coleman, Bagwell and McCann all delivered run-scoring hits in the inning and a base-loaded walk drawn by Ackerman ended the game early.

Hertz picked up the win in the circle for the Sentinels. She went six innings, scattering 13 hits and allowing nine runs, striking out two and walking two.

Sydney Tollefson went 3-for-4 with a home run, double, two RBIs and three runs scored for Central. Jaley Langowski doubled and drove in two runs.

The Sentinels travel to Dickinson to take on the Mavericks in a doubleheader on Thursday, April 2, beginning at 4 p.m.