The Anoka-Ramsey Softball team saw their historic season come to an end after falling to NDSCS in the NJCAA Region XIIIA Championship game on Friday afternoon.
The Golden Rams won their opening matchup 7-2 over Rochester to advance to the semifinals, where they lost to NDSCS 6-1 and moved into the elimination bracket.
There they defeated St. Cloud Tech 13-4 to advance to the championship with a rematch vs NDSCS. The Wildcats would prevail 12-4.
The opening game against Rochester saw Molly Gross throw seven innings, scattering four hits and two earned runs while striking out 11 batters. Gross also went 2 for 3 at the plate with three RBI.
In the first matchup with NDSCS the Golden Rams committed six errors which contributed to four Wildcat runs in the third inning - and the Golden Ram bats went silent as they mustered just four hits.
Working their back thru the elimination bracket, the Golden Rams came alive with 16 hits vs the St. Cloud Tech Cyclones. Six players had multi hit games led by Maddie Bottineau who went 3 for 4 with two home runs and six RBI. Emma Hurd added a home run of her own while belting out three hits. Emma Bright, Hailey Babcock, Lyla Galli, and Gross all had two hits.
In the championship the Golden Rams jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first inning, and led 4-2 after two innings. But the Wildcat pitcher settled down and held Anoka-Ramsey hitless the rest of the way, while the NDSCS bats went to work scoring nine runs in the fourth inning.
Bottineau added another home run, her third of the day.
Named to the All-Tournament team were Bright, Gross, and Bottineau.
Anoka-Ramsey concludes the season with a 40-11 overall record.
