Jimmies softball beats Valley City State 7-0 to win NSAA title

DICKINSON, N.D. — The No. 1-seeded University of Jamestown softball team has won the conference championship after a 7-0 win over No. 4-seeded Valley City State University in the North Star Athletic Association Conference Championship Game on Sunday, May 4, at Dickinson State University’s Bravera Field.

The win is the Jimmies' first conference title since the 2016-17 season. The Jimmies (35-15) are also heading to the NAIA National Tournament for the first time since the 2017-18 season.

"Well you put a lot of work, time and effort into it when it comes to recruiting and counseling and hosting and getting them to do camps and practicing and training," Jimmies head coach Kevin Gall said. "So at the end of the day you want the pay day for all the time and effort you're putting in. So it means a lot, it definitely feels good. There'd be something wrong with you if you didn't feel good about it. So very happy."

The Jimmies opened the scoring in the second inning on a Tori Olson sacrifice bunt to make it 1-0 before she was later brought home on a Sydney Grendler two-run double made it 3-0. The Jimmies were not done there adding three more runs in the frame to go up 6-0.

The Jimmies put the game away in the third inning when Grendler reached on an error allowing Rylie Welk to score and make it 7-0.

The Jimmies went with their ace on the bump, Hope Ransome who pitched a complete game three-hitter shutout while striking out three and not walking any Vikings (26-23). Ransome finishes the tournament throwing 19.1 innings giving up one run on 11 hits while striking out four hitters and walking three hitters. The Vikings’ Maddy Zander started the game going 1.0+ giving up four earned runs on three hits while striking two hitters and walking three hitters. She was relieved by Madison Hazelton who went five innings giving up one earned run on four hits while striking out three hitters.

The Jimmies will now wait to see who they face in the first round of the NAIA National Tournament starting on Monday, May 12, with the time still to be determined.

"We gotta heal up and take care of our bodies and have a couple good practices here towards the end of the week," Gall said. "Tuesday, we find out what our destination is so that could be pretty easy to plan a trip or it could be a lot of work to plan a trip. If we go into Missouri or something that's gonna be different than if we go to Sioux Center, Iowa. So hopefully we'll be in a spot where we can get there relatively easy and I think we gotta get there a couple days early to be ready to play whoever it is we're gonna play."

VCSU 0, UJ 7

VCSU: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0–0 3 3

UJ: 0 6 1 0 0 0 X–7 7 0

WP: Hope Ransome (13-7), LP: Maddy Zander (12-12)

Hello,
My name is Max O'Neill. I am a Sports Reporter at The Jamestown Sun. I am a native New Yorker, who graduated from Ithaca College in 2020 with a degree in Television-Radio.