DICKINSON, N.D. -- After winning its first-ever West Region title, the Dickinson High softball team didn't disappoint its hometown fans in its quarterfinals game of the North Dakota Class A state softball tournament.
Dickinson -- the top seed from the West -- piled on eight runs in the first four innings and Amber Sickler pitched her third straight gem.
The Midgets defeated Grand Forks Central 10-1 on Thursday at Gress Softball Complex.
“It definitely helped scoring those runs early,” said Dickinson sophomore Julian Knight, who finished 2-for-4 with four RBI and two runs. "We just need to make sure we were on top of everything and not let (Grand Forks Central) get the energy in the game."
Dickinson supplied back-to-back three-run innings during the second and third.
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Knight drove in the first two runs on two-run double in the second. Sickler posted a RBI single two at bats later. Knight has become more of a full-time player as junior Madison Jahner is out with a right-leg injury.
“She has come up big for us quite a few times,” Dickinson head coach Amanda Mickey said about Knight. “There were a couple times where she didn’t have the confidence in herself, but she’s starting to see that ability that she has. ”
Sickler also supplied a near-perfecting trip in the circle. The freshman went seven innings, allowed one unearned run on two hits and struck out eight.
Kaytlin Frisch scored Grand Forks Central’s lone run in the fifth inning on the Midgets’ only error of the contest. Dickinson’s Kayla Friske and Jordie McNeilly each scored two runs.
“Usually (Sickler) settles in pretty soon, but that second inning she struggled a little,” Mickey said. “She throws a hell of a game. She’s not the most overpowering pitcher, but she has movement and hits her spots.”
The Knights committed five errors in the game. Central head coach Steve Olson said the stage was a little too bright right away.
The trip to the state tournament marked Central’s first in program history.
“The moment was a little bit too big for them,” Olson said. “We seemed like we were a little bit in awe. They just don’t have the experience playing in these big games. This is a learning experience.”
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Willow Rynestad was charged with the loss. She went six innings allowed 10 runs (four earned), struck out six and walked six. Abbie Ferry and Mac Olson were the only two Knights with hits.
The Midgets play Jamestown -- the No. 3 seed from the West -- in the semifinals at 6:30 p.m. today. Dickinson defeated Jamestown 11-1 during the West Region Tournament.
Knight said the team is going to pretend like the Blue Jays are a brand new opponent.
“It’s a new team in a new tournament,” she said. “We have to play like we’ve never played them before.”
