DICKINSON – The Valley City State softball team was upset in the winner's bracket of the NSAA Tournament Saturday, falling to No. 3 Dickinson State 4-3 in eight innings.
 
No. 2 VCSU (26-21) will play a loser-out game Saturday against No. 6 Waldorf (10-28) at 7 p.m. CT/6 p.m. MT. No. 3 Dickinson (22-22) will advance in the winner's bracket and face No. 1 Bellevue (31-18) Sunday at 12 p.m. CT/11 a.m. MT.
 
VCSU's Joelle Lamontagne and Dickinson State's Dallis Mitchell battled in the circle to open Saturday's game, keeping it scoreless through six complete innings.
 
Lamontagne allowed just two Blue Hawk hits through six innings Saturday. Dickinson found a two-out rally to load the bases in the top of the seventh inning. Cassy Loa, whom Lamontagne had struck out three times in the game, then delivered a bases-clearing double to hold a 3-0 lead.
 
VCSU answered in the bottom of the seventh though. Down to the last out, Sierra Crocker delivered a 2-run single to close the gap for VCSU. Logan Gronberg then drove in Kennadi Stone with an RBI single to tie the game at 3-3 and force extra innings.
 
In the top of the eighth, Dickinson's Hope Fath scored the go-ahead run on Cassidy Venner's single up the middle and the Blue Hawks held on to defeat the Vikings 4-3.
 
VCSU's Gronberg got the loss for VCSU after pitching one relief inning. She allowed just one run on two hits, walked one and struck out one. Lamontagne started in the circle and pitched 7 innings, allowing three runs on four hits, walking four and striking out four.
 
Crocker totaled two hits and two RBIs for the Vikings, and Gronberg added two hits and one RBI. Maddy Zander doubled while Kennadi Stone, Ashlyn Diemert and Avery Kuklinski each scored a run.
 
Dallis Mitchell earned the win for Dickinson after pitching a complete game in the circle. She allowed three runs on 10 hits and walked one batter.
 
Venner and Kiley Hubby each had two hits in the game. Hubby and Loa each doubled, and Loa drove in three runs for Dickinson State.