Apr. 28—DICKINSON — Beulah conquered two Class A adversaries, to start Dickinson High School Softball Jamboree on Friday. The Century Patriots would go down first in a 6-2 ballgame, before the hosting team Dickinson Midgets would fall 8-2 to the Miners.

Nice cloudy weather made for the best of conditions, but the Class A teams could not find a way past Beulah's ace pitching that threw consistently inside the strike zone with movement and speed. The Miners head coach, Kyle Christensen complimented his young squad and their pitching staff putting in good work in the circle. Their abilities to throw multiple pitches kept batters guessing and the Miners on the winning side of the scoreline.

"The biggest thing is that there is no pressure," Christensen said. "We certainly want to compete and we want to do well and we know the teams we are playing are no slouchers either. Our ultimate goal is to win a state title. To compete against Century, Dickinson, Minot and Jamestown will be very beneficial to us and when we go back and play some better Class B schools we won't be intimidated."

Dickinson fell into the hole at the top of the second inning, giving up six runs. Ava Jahner held the circle to start the game, but after a walked batter immediately stole second base, she would be switched out with freshman Kyndall Peterson, holding first base.

Taylor Christensen toed the rubber for the entirety of the game against the Midgets and would fan 15 batters, without allowing a single walk. In the second inning, Christensen knocked in two RBIs, from a stand-up triple, with the ball just out of reach of Dickinson right fielder's glove.

"Ava Jahner is one of the top pitchers in the state. I knew she would be capable of holding our line in check, but Taylor is as good of a pitcher as there is in North Dakota and she keeps getting better every year," Christensen said. "I knew with her on the mound against Dickinson they would have their hands full too."

Senior Baylee Berg would not allow her team to give in to the large deficit without a fight, and would add two runs for the Midgets with her own stand up triple at the bottom of the sixth inning.

Peterson earned two runs, but settled in well with her fielders backing her up with flyouts and groundouts. Midgets third baseman Jenna Schutt, of Richardton-Taylor HS, did well fielding ground balls and working along with the first baseman to get easy putouts.

Freshman Addison Dale-Geiger pitched the first game against Century, delivering nine strikeouts and with six hits, allowed two earned runs. With 91 pitches thrown, she delivered 65 strikes and only allowed two walks in the seven inning game. Dale-Geiger was equally good on offense, collecting three RBIs. Christensen went 4-5 at bat, opening up the Miners' scoring, hitting a home run.

"Addi is just right there with Taylor too," Christensen said. "She threw a really good game against Century. She was a little bit flat in the first couple of innings, she got a couple of runs by her, but then she settled in nicely."

The Patriots pitching staff gave up 10 hits in total, with their fielders giving up four errors. Ashlyn Schumacher was the only player for Century to get multiple hits for her team, going 2-4 at bat. Both Lexi Tollefson and Koia Krenz each hit doubles, each earning an RBI.

Day one continues into the evening, Dickinson playing Jamestown at 7 p.m. Saturday will feature six games, with Beulah opening against Minot at 9 a.m. Coach Christensen is not counting his chickens yet, but recognized the amount of effort put in by his team, specifically the defense.

"We got a couple of more tough games tomorrow too, so hopefully we can continue to play well," Christensen said. "Like I said, there is some tough games ahead and the wheels can fall off the bus pretty quickly ... Our defense really made some nice plays as they do. All around good effort."