YANKTON – The Aberdeen Central Golden Eagles fell behind early and could never find their rhythm in a high school softball game Saturday afternoon.

Yankton pulled away for a 15-0 Eastern South Dakota Conference victory at Sertoma Park in Yankton.

After a scoreless first inning for the Golden Eagles, Yankton used its half of the inning to build a comfortable lead, thanks, in part, to a three-run double. The Bucks tacked on two more runs to take a 6-0 lead into the second inning. Central coach Cassidy Schaar said she felt her team started well before Yankton grabbed the lead.

“We started out with two outs there in the first inning and we thought that was going to be one of our first innings allowing no runs and we just didn’t quite close that,” Schaar said. “We’re so close and we just let little things slide there.”

Schaar said the team has been working hard to correct mistakes and saw improvement in today’s game.

“Just working on some of that fine tuning, stopping the bleed, not allowing back-to-back errors is really what’s going to set us apart from other teams, and we’re working on those things,”

Schaar said. “Our girls leave every day very positive and we’re just working on those between games and making sure we start cleaning that up.”

The Golden Eagles were able to adjust defensively, giving up just one run in the second inning, while shutting out the Bucks in the third inning.

“Our girls definitely had our first double play that we had out there today, just getting that catch in the outfield and noticing that the runner didn’t tag up and getting that ball to the base,” Schaar said. “Those are things we weren’t doing at the start of the year and we’re starting to see those things and starting to look for not one out, but the next out, always looking for that play ahead, and they’re just doing a really outstanding job with that.”

Central pitcher Kaylee Kiesow felt the team had some positives and negatives during the game.

“I thought we had two very good innings,” Kiesow said. “Our first and last ones were kind of shaky. We could have made some plays that we didn’t. But overall, I think if we keep working hard, we’ll get there.”

One factor to consider during the game was a blustery wind, which provided some pros and cons for the Golden Eagles.

“Some pitches it kind of made them go all over the place, but overall, I think the wind was fine. It didn’t affect me much,” Kiesow said.

Schaar noted that the wind actually helped the outfielders in their ability to catch the ball.

“I don’t think the wind had much of a factor,” Schaar said. “If anything, it had the ball hanging in the outfield which allowed our outfielders to get under it a little bit.”

In the fourth and final inning, Yankton poured in eight runs to bring the final count to 15-0, ending the game early due to the 15-run mercy rule. The Bucks totaled 16 hits, including eight in the final inning, while the Golden Eagles finished with three hits.

While it was another tough loss, Schaar knows that a lot can be learned in order to continue building the team and moving forward.

“We’re just gonna take what worked and what didn’t work today and bring it in when we start to hit the ground running on Monday and Tuesday,” Schaar said. “So, we unfortunately don’t get to practice between now and our game on Monday, but we just chatted with the girls and figured out what it is we want to focus in on and having that winning mindset and just buying into that process and we’ll get there.”

Central hosts O’Gorman on Monday at 4 p.m. at Koehler Hall of Fame Field before playing at Pierre on Tuesday.

Aberdeen Central 000 0 – 0 3

Yankton 610 8 – 15 16

WP: Grace Behrns. LP: Kaylee Kiesow. 2B – Yankton, Grace Behrns (2), Brooklyn Townsend, Mikayla Humpal, Elle Feser.