RAPID CITY – It was an historic day for the Aberdeen Central softball program on Saturday.

The Golden Eagles scored a school-record 26 runs and captured their first victory in school history with a 26-13 non-conference win over Rapid City Central.

“It was a much-needed win for them, just kind of for their morale and their overall excitement,” said Central coach Cassidy Neer. “They deserved it.”

Like they did in a loss to Spearfish on Friday, the Eagles jumped in front early only to lose their lead. This time, however, they continued to pour on runs, eventually taking control with a 10-run fourth inning.

“We’re getting to the point where we’re able to have more intensity when we take the field, because our girls know how to play and they’re doing the little things right,” Neer said.

One of those little things is taking advantage of team speed. The Eagles had a whopping 21 stolen bases on the day, something that has been a point of emphasis this season.

“We have really stressed to our girls to be aggressive base runners, on walks, when a base is left unguarded we’ve been taking that base,” Neer said. “We’ve been bunting to move runners into scoring position.”

As a result, the Eagles were to put pressure on the Cobblers, who ended up with 13 wild pitches in addition to walking 13 batters and hitting nine others.

Aberdeen scored seven runs in the top of the first inning. Ayrlie Waldo had a two-run double and Kylee Hoffman had an RBI single to highlight the frame.

After the hosts scored a dozen unanswered runs, the Eagles responded with 14 straight runs of their own, including 10 in the fourth inning. Kaylee Dixon had a two-run double in that frame. Addison Ward added a two-run double in the seventh when Central plated four more runs before the game was suspended with the bases loaded and nobody out due to impending weather.

The Eagles finished with 13 hits and did not commit a single error in the field.

“It definitely was not handed to us by any means,” Neer said of the milestone victory. “The girls definitely had to stay focused and locked in. I told them accept nothing but winning today.”

Another key in the contest was Central’s decision to split up mound duties. That choice was made before the game started to have two different pitchers in the contest. Kylie Kiesow came on in relief and allowed just one run in three innings of work.

“Our overall goal as coaches, we’ve been talking about finding ways for our varsity pitchers to split games and not throw complete games,” Neer said, “and we were able to do that today, because we didn’t dig ourselves such a deep hole. That allowed us to make a smooth transition and be proactive in stopping runs as opposed to being defensive in stopping runs. That was a huge game changer.”

As the game wore on and it appeared that Aberdeen was closing in on its first ever victory, things got a bit emotional.

“There were a couple of times I had the lump in my throat, like mid-inning,” Neer said of watching her players succeed on the diamond. “I just could not even think … how proud I am of them for overcoming so much.”

Waldo finished with four hits, scored four runs and stole four bases. Hoffman had three hits, scored four runs and stole six bases. Ward had two hits, scored four times and stole four bases.

In the end, it was a day that the Golden Eagles will never forget.

“There wasn’t a dry eye on our roster at the end of that game,” Neer said.

That display of emotion was not lost on Neer, who has watched her players battle through growing pains as they start a program from scratch.

“The girls’ reactions are what it made to so special,” Neer said of the initial victory. I’m so proud of them.”

Central, 1-5 on the season, plays at Brookings on Thursday.

Aberdeen Central 702 (10)21 4 – 26 13 0

Rapid City Central 1(11)0 010 x – 13 13 3

Kylee Hoffman, Kaylee Kiesow (3) and Alivia Roettele; Braelynn Brown, Shaynne Dudley (4), Brown (6) and Marielle Colhoff, Maleah Saucerman. 2B – Aberdeen Central, Jayla Breaw, Addison Ward, Ayrlie Waldo, Kaylee Dixon; Rapid City Central, Katie Crandall, Lilly Larson, Brown, Dudley (2), Colhoff. HR – Rapid City Central, Larson.