Bobcat softball walks off with win in season opener

BROOKINGS — The Brookings softball team opened the 2026 season with a 7-4 win over Yankton on Monday afternoon at the Southbrook Softball Complex.

Ella Psyk hit a three-run home run over the left field fence in the bottom of the eighth inning for the Bobcats to make it a walk-off win for Brookings.

It was a good start for a Brookings team that lost a lot of talent from last year’s team. The Bobcats lost six players to graduation and the three biggest losses were Morgan Norgaard, Kymber Buys and Tess Burns.

Brookings has five seniors this year in Brynn Flemming, Olivia Hove, Zoe Miller, Layla Erickson and Reece Christianson. The lone junior on the team is Kinzey Grendler.

Bobcat head coach Emma Hardin said the seniors from last year’s team will be tough to replace on the field, but she thinks they did a good job of setting an example and that has carried over to this year’s senior class.

“We did lose quite a bit of talent last year, but they kind of set the standard for us. I think that our senior class this year has done a really good job of taking that leadership role and running with it.

Whether it’s getting practice set up early, whether it’s helping the underclassmen with some of our expectations of Bobcat softball, they’ve really done a good job of setting the standard. That’s especially important when we are young, because they don’t know what they don’t know,” Hardin said.

Psyk led the Bobcat offense on Monday, going 1-for-3 with three RBIs. Sophomore Kendal Linstad went 1-for-2 with an RBI and sophomore Grace Romsa went 2-for-4. Erickson went 1-for-3.

The Bobcats were without one of their top offensive players on Monday in sophomore Ramsie Hinricher, who hurt her wrist during the wrestling season. Hardin said she thinks Hinricher will be one of the best bats for Brookings this year, along with Erickson and Grendler.

“We had Ramsie Hinricher last year, who did a great job for us on varsity, and she’s back again this year,” Hardin said. “Right now she has a hurt wrist, so you won’tsee her hitting [right away]. We’re hoping that she can get that wrist healed up after the wrestling season. We have senior Layla Erickson, who got plenty of at bats last year.

“We have Kinzey Grendler, who is a junior, and she got quite a few at bats for us last year. Then we have some of those sophomores that I keep talking about, that they’ve played at a really high level, and I think that they’ll be able to step up their game and really compete.”

Brookings had four pitchers in the circle on Monday. Psyk pitched the first four innings and gave up an unearned run and two hits and had five strikeouts. Sophomore Jordyn Anderson pitched a shutout inning and did not give up a hit with three strikeouts. Sophomore Avery Eliason pitched two innings and gave up two earned runs on three hits.

Sophomore Taya Twedt pitched the final inning and gave up one unearned run on one hit.

Hardin said Monday’s game will be similar to the rest of the games this season as she wants to use a plethora of pitchers. She said they are going to lean more on Psyk this year though after she pitched mostly late in games a year ago.

“We have Ella Psyk back from last year, and last year she played more of a closer role, coming into a game and kind of finishing it out. Thisyear, she’s going to be taking on more of the starter role, which is really exciting for her. She has some fun movement to her pitches, and I think that will be a good role for her to take. You’ll also see Avery Eliason on the mound, Taya Twedt on the mound, and a little bit of Kinzey Grendler on the mound,” Hardin said.

With having multiple pitchers available and not having one pitcher carry the team, Hardin said she is going to have to be more strategic about when she puts in each pitcher.

“I think that just finding our groove on the mound is going to be important. We need to make sure that we are mixing up speeds and we aren’t throwing too many of the same looks at hitters. … I’m going to have to be a little more strategic with maybe someone that throws a little bit harder, and then someone that throws some spin pitches, and then maybe someone that throws a little harder again, or has spin. So, definitely a little more strategic than I have been in years past,” Hardin said.

The Bobcats came up short of making the State Tournament last season. They went 11-7 in the regular season and were the No. 7 seed in the Class AA SoDak 16, but they lost 16-6 to No. 10 seeded O’Gorman in Brookings. It was the second-straight year that Brookings lost a home game in the SoDak 16 after making the championship game of the State Tournament in 2023.

Hardin said that despite the young roster that she has, she is always looking to be playing in the State Tournament.

“I think that our goal is always to make the State Tournament. I have reminded the girls that we are young, but a lot of them play at a really high level and they want to compete, so we have to take that into the season as well. In order to get better, we have to not take one pitch off, not take an inning off, not take a game off,” Hardin said.

Hardin added that the Bobcats can’t afford to take a pitch off because they want to be hosting in the SoDak 16 again. However, this time they want to take advantage of the moment and move onto the State Tournament.

“Every game is going to matter for us in the standings.” Hardin said. “So, it’s going to be important for us to play hard every game so that we can get a good seed for the SoDak 16 and then win that game. That’s kind of been our struggle. We’ve been the higher seed, and we’ve hosted the last three years, but the last two years we haven’t made it to state. We just let the moment get too big. So, I think that just remembering that we have the skills and we have the tools to be a team that makes it to state and competes there is going to be really important for us.”

Brookings is scheduled to return to the field on April 7 in Watertown. The Bobcats next home game will be on April 16 against Pierre at 4 p.m.