Mobridge-Pollock and Gayville-Volin set the tone with two upsets in the first round of the Class B State Softball tournament Thursday at Players South Complex in Aberdeen.

Mobridge-Pollock upset second-seeded Bon Homme 17-10.

The first-round win started a new era for the Tigers.

“It’s been a long time coming. Granted, we’ve only had fastpitch for three years, but this is gonna help fastpitch grow in Mobridge,” said Tigers coach Andrew Overland. “We had our youth team here today to watch. A bunch of them came over because they’re playing Aberdeen tonight probably. For them to see that, it’s huge.”

Being one of the closest teams to Aberdeen, the Tigers had a slight home-field advantage.

“It’s not very often we can say we’re the closest team, or one of the closest teams. … It’s almost a home game for us really to be this close. We only got one home game this year, so I mean it’s nice,” Overland said. “It’s great to have the crowd here. Mobridge travels … they come out and they watch, they really do. They support and it was great to see all the people here.”

The Tigers had a 17-5 lead going into the bottom of the sixth, and even with a 12-run lead, the Tigers knew it could change quickly.

“I don’t think I ever felt comfortable, even when it was 17-5. I’ve just seen too many things happen where you make a couple errors, they get a couple of dink hits. You throw in a walk and it’s a recipe for a big inning,” Overland said. “Even at 17-10, I did not feel comfortable at all. You get the third out and it’s a sigh of relief.”

His daughter Grace felt a little different in the circle going into the final moments of the game.

“I thought we were still sitting pretty so I was trying to shove it down,” she said. “Don’t get rattled, you’re fine. Just keep pitching how you’ve been pitching. I’ve got my defense behind me, we’re all good.”

Heading into the semifinals for the first time in program history, the Tigers will take on sixth-seeded Gayville-Volin, which upset Castlewood.

“Oh it feels awesome. We’ve been told like hey, you guys have the potential,” Grace Overland said. “It doesn’t matter what seed you are, you’re gonna make it.”

Mobridge-Pollock 504 233 0 – 17 14 4
Bon Homme 221 005 0 – 10 9 4
Grace Overland and Amber Vetch; Kenadee Kozak and Olivia Kaul. 2B – Mobridge-Pollock, Faith Heil 2, Michelle Merkel 2, Vetch, Sophia Overland; Bon Homme, Neveah Myers, Kaul, Reyna Alberts, Taryn Crites. 3B – Mobridge-Pollock, Ava Wolff, G. Overland.

Gayville-Volin 12, Castlewood 5

Gayville-Volin had a dominant 12-5 opening round win over Castlewood, which had been to the state title game in each of the past two state tournaments.

“It feels good just because it’s a perennial Castlewood that has played in the state championship the last two years and they have a great club. They do everything the right way,” said Raiders head coach Jason Selchert. “To know that we’re making strides and can compete with those types of teams, I mean all the credit goes to the girls.”

The bats for the Raiders started off hot with a 2-run home run from Maia Achen on the first pitch of her at-bat.

“It felt really good,” Achen said. “I didn’t have much confidence coming in because of how I’ve been hitting recently, but it was good.”

The number three batter was selective with her pitches on the day, which allowed her to get on base in all four of her at-bats. After her home run in the first, Achen reached on an error in the third, received a walk in the fifth, and a produced a double in the sixth.

“I think I just gotta know my zone and go from there,” Achen said. “It definitely helps that my team’s behind me to have confidence.”

It also helps when senior pitcher Ayla Dimmer only gave up six hits, and one walk, while getting just about the whole Castlewood lineup to pop up.

“I throw some spin, so it gets in on their bat and then I know that my defense can help me out,” Dimmer said. “I know that if there’s a routine fly ball, it’s caught. Or if there’s a routine grounder it gets to first base or second base or whatever. It gives me more confidence up there knowing I have a team behind me.”

Selchert knows the potential of Dimmer, but thinks she goes unnoticed.

“She’s just got grit and determination. This is her third year of pitching here and she doesn’t get the credit that she deserves for being an elite athlete in Class B,” said Selchert. “She’s got 40 wins in her career in three years. She just does what we need to do. She had one walk tonight. She’s got 15 on the year.”

The Class B field was balanced heading into the tournament and now there will be a six vs. seven seeded matchup in today’s semifinals at 4 p.m.

“We knew that everybody coming in was gonna be hard, good teams. We knew that anything could happen so we built the confidence up and the energy high,” Achen said. “We know it’s gonna be a good game and we just gotta go in good.”

Gayville-Voliln 203 034 0 – 12 9 4
Castlewood 001 003 1 – 5 6 4
Ayla Dimmer and Kayden Bye; Claire Horn and Lilly Jacobsen. 2B – Gayville-Volin, Maia
Achen, Teresa Stockman; Castlewood, Horn. 3B – Gayville-Volin, Paisley Dimmer.

Deuel 9, Avon 2
Top-seeded Deuel turned back Avon in the opening game of the tournament with a 9-2 victory.

Avon scored a run in the third inning before Deuel answered with five runs in the bottom half of the winning. Eighth-grader Auber Lanners had the big hit in the frame with a three-run home run to left center.

“I was just looking for my pitch that I knew I could drive and I just had the mentality that I knew we needed a hit, and a big hit so that we could get the lead,” Lanners said. “It definitely felt good. We needed that.”

In the circle, senior Katrina Hagberg slowed the Pirates offensive attack down by collecting 16 strikeouts. The senior standout still had a few nerves starting out the contest.

“It feels pretty good knowing that the state tournament is the top eight teams,” Hagberg said. “I definitely had some nerves, but the previous two years, I’ve been the only pitcher. And we’ve been here the past two years, so I’m used to the nerves.”

Deuel, which finished seventh the previous two state tournaments, moves on to the semifinals to take on Alcester-Hudson at 2 this afternoon.

“Oh my gosh, we needed this first win so bad. It felt like three years of pressure all built up and it just exploded on the field,” said Deuel coach Sarah Hagberg. “I’m just so proud of my team, and like I said, three years coming.”

Avon 001 000 1 – 2 6 2
Deuel 005 004 x – 9 6 0
Macy Voigt, Raegan Brandt (5) and Jordyn Voigt; Katrina Hagberg and Elle Holden. 2B – Avon, J. Voigt. 3B – Avon, Rilyn Thury. HR- Deuel, Aubrey Lanners.

Alcester-Hudson 11, Florence-Henry 3

Alcester-Hudson scored nine unanswered runs to set the tone for its 11-3 win over Florence-Henry in the opening round.

The Falcons scored three runs in the final two innings, but it wasn’t enough to erase the early deficit.

Emma Moller led Alcester-Hudson with a three-run home run in the fourth, an RBI single, and also recording 14 strikeouts in the circle for the Cubs.

Alcester-Hudson added two more runs in the bottom of the sixth on a two-run home run from Jenna Manning, who went 3-for-4 on the day.

Alcester-Hudson will take on Deuel in the semifinals at 2 this afternoon.

Florence-Henry received a two-out two-run single from Emma Caulfield in the sixth inning, before Ashlynn Vavruska doubled in Andie Rislov for a run in the seventh.

Florence-Henry 000 002 1 – 3 4 2
Alcester-Hudson 014 402 x – 11 11 4
Elizabeth Reiter and Ashlynn Vavruska; Emma Moller and Paxtyn Moller. 2B – Florence-Henry, Vavruska; Alcester-Hudson, Emma Solberg. HR – Alcester-Hudson, Delta Pies, E. Moller, Jenna Manning.