Panthers 1-1 before weather pauses softball season
The Rugby Panthers softball squad has a 1-1 record after fitting two games in before a late spring blizzard put its schedule on a temporary hold.
The Panthers opened the season at Minot’s South Hill Softball Complex, meeting with Bishop Ryan Lions as the home team on April 8. The Rugby softball complex was not yet ready for play.
The Panthers dominated the Lions from the beginning, with all players in their lineup eventually scoring runs. Panthers’ pitchers Megan Schmaltz and Brooklyn Hager seemed destined to pitch a shutout before Tyanna Weeks broke through with a run in the third inning. One more run would be all the young Bishop Ryan team could manage before Rugby left the field with a 39-2 win after five innings.
“I’m really happy with them,” Coach Miriah Yoder said of the Panthers. “They worked hard. This is a good way to start the season.”
Yoder said the team would continue practicing and, most importantly, “work on that communication in the field.”
In the second game of the Panthers’ season, Rugby traveled to Fessenden to take on the Harvey-Wells County Hornets. The Hornets shut out the Panthers in five innings.
A spring snowstorm postponed Rugby’s next game, slated for April 12 against Ray High School. Weather permitting, the Panthers will travel to Stanley High to take on Divide County on April 18, then to Velva, where they’ll take on the Drake-Anamoose Raiders on April 21.