Sioux Valley softball wins consolation championship

ABERDEEN – The Sioux Valley softball team came away with the consolation championship at the Class A State Tournament over the weekend.

The Cossacks lost their first game of the weekend to Dakota Valley but then bounced back with wins over Lennox and Beresford.

Sioux Valley head coach Tatum Sonnenburg said that her team did a good job of putting their first game, which they lost 7-2, behind them and focusing on finishing the year with a couple of wins.

"We knew coming into that Dakota Valley game that they were a good team and not seeing them this year, it was going to be uncharted territory. I think we had the ability to really just pull together as a team and push through a tough game and rewire out thoughts, and really just make a new goal for ourselves after that game and win the consolation championship," Sonnenburg said.

The No. 6 seeded Cossacks beat No. 7 seeded Lennox 15-5 in six innings in the consolation semifinals.

Sioux Valley racked up 14 hits in the win. McKinley Schwab was 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Kassidy Smith was 3-for-5 with two RBIs and Morgan Lemme was 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Shelby Hai was 3-for-4 with an RBI, Amelia Jacobson was 2-for-4 with an RBI and Zoe Hemmestad was 1-for-4 with an RBI.

Sioux Valley would then outscore No. 5 seeded Beresford 5-0 in the final three innings and win 9-5 in the consolation championship.

The Cossacks had nine hits in that victory. Schwab was 3-for-4 with four RBIs and Lemme was 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Zaylee Langten was 1-for-2, Hai was 1-for-3 and Audrey Murano was 1-for-4.

Abby Axtell and Schwab were the two pitchers for the Cossacks in their two victories. Axtell pitched a combined four innings and gave up nine runs, eight earned, on 11 hits with one strikeout and no walks. Schwab pitched a combined nine innings and gave up one earned run on four hits with four walks and 18 strikeouts.

Sonnenburg said the Cossacks looked like the team she saw all season in their final two games.

ìWe saw a lot of the Sioux Valley softball that we've been seeing all year," Sonnenburg said. "They just came together at a time when it needed to happen. We saw a lot of offensive hits and a lot of base running to kind of propel us in the right direction with our runs and scoring.

"But we also had a lot of great pitching this weekend. I think with Abby Axtell starting every game and then McKinley Schwab coming in in relief, I think it just set the tone each game."

There were only four teams in Class A that got to end the year with a victory and the Cossacks were one of them. Sonnenburg said that was a good way to end the careers of Sioux Valley's two seniors, Axtell and Cameron Uecker.

"Both of those players have been solid voices and a solid presence since the time that the Sioux Valley softball program started," Sonnenburg said. "Every year they've gotten a little better as leaders. They are academically sound, they are great with communication on the field.

"Even though they've faced some hard times throughout their softball career at Sioux Valley, they truly have set the tone for leadership in the years to come. I think that sending them off on a win is an awesome feeling because not everybody gets to win the final game of their career."

This was the second-straight season that the Cossacks made it to the State Tournament, but last year, Sioux Valley went winless in the tournament. Sonnenburg said this past weekend was a nice step forward for the program, but she wants to be in the championship side of the bracket next year and believes her players will put in the work to get there.

"I think we have such a great returning group of girls and we will have [a lot of upperclassmen next year]. I think that their leadership has been great, and I have no doubt that they're going to come back next year and make an even bigger impact on the young girls that we have. I think the mentality now of getting to our first State Tournament and then winning the consolation championship at the State Tournament, hopefully that's the push and drive that we needed to be competitive with [the top teams] and not be afraid of anybody that we face," Sonnenburg said.