MAYVILLE, N.D. – The Valley City State softball team totaled 32 hits and nine for extra-bases in a Saturday sweep over Mayville State to conclude the regular season. VCSU defeated the Comets 11-7 in the first game of the day and rounded out the regular season with an explosive 17-5 victory in five innings.
Maddy Zander homered twice Saturday and
Kennadi Stone hit her second career grand slam for the Vikings. VCSU finishes the regular season with an 22-21 overall record and an 11-9 mark in the North Star. Mayville drops to 10-35 on the season and 4-16 in conference play.
Valley City State will face Mayville in the opening round of the 2025 NSAA Softball Postseason Tournament hosted May 1-5 at Dickinson State. The official postseason bracket and schedule will be released Monday.
VCSU 11, Mayville 7
Valley City State smashed 17 hits to come out on top of a game that went back-and-forth between the NSAA teams.
VCSU started strong with a 3-run home run from
Maddy Zander but the Viking lead was cut back to 3-2 after the first inning as Mayville rebounded with a pair of solo home runs from Lindsey Tulla and Madison Terres.
Mayville tied the game on a sacrifice fly from Mackenzie Hughes but VCSU's
Logan Gronberg had the answer with an RBI single to maintain a 4-3 edge. Mayville then pulled ahead in the bottom of the third inning with three more runs including a 2-run single from Nevaeh Stinson.
VCSU then found a fourth inning rally to build an 8-6 advantage. Mayville's Ryanne Bass narrowed the gap to 8-7 with a solo home run in the fifth inning but VCSU put the game away in the seventh inning with three RBI singles.
Maddy Zander went 3-for-5 with a home run and a double while scoring three runs and driving in five. Gronberg also finished with three hits Saturday and drove in two runs for the Vikings.
Ashlyn Diemert,
Avery Kuklinski,
Kennadi Stone and
Makenzee Stone each finished with two hits in the game and
Katelyn MacNeill tripled for VCSU.
Cooper Klaahsen earned the win in the circle after pitching 3 complete relief innings Saturday. She allowed four runs on five hits, walked one and struck out three.
Madison Hazelton and
Maddy Zander each made an appearance in the circle for VCSU.
Mayville's Bass went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run, two runs scored and two RBIs. Lacey Mathiowetz got the loss in the circle after pitching 3 and 2/3 innings and allowing eight runs on nine hits.
VCSU 17, Mayville 5 (5 innings)
The Vikings took a big win to round out the regular season, highlighted by
Kennadi Stone's second career grand slam in as many weeks after smashing a grand slam last weekend at Dickinson State.
VCSU dominated right out of the gate with seven runs in the first inning, including a 2-run homer from Zander and two RBIs from
Avery Kuklinski.
Lauren Nixon drove in a pair of runs in the second inning, but Mayville cut the lead to 9-4 with the help of a Mathiowetz 2-run triple.
From there, VCSU's Diemert, Zander, Gronberg and
Alyssa DePoorter each delivered an RBI to build a 13-4 lead after three innings.
Kennadi Stone later helped secure the big win with her grand slam in the top of the fifth inning to round out VCSU's scoring.
Kuklinski went 4-for-4 at the plate with a double, three runs scored and two RBIs in the game. Gronberg was 3-for-3 with one run scored and one RBI while Diemert doubled twice, scored two runs and drove in two.
Makenzee Stone added two hits, two runs and two RBIs, while Zander and
Kennadi Stone each homered in the big win. Zander drove in three runs and Stone drove in four.
Madison Hazelton earned the win in the circle after pitching a complete game. She allowed five runs on six hits, walked one and struck out four.
Mayville's Autumn McGough got the loss Saturday after starting in the circle and pitching 2 innings. She allowed 13 runs on 12 hits, walked two and struck out one. Terres was 2-for-3 at the plate with a double while Mathiowetz added a triple, one run and two RBIs for the Comets.
