Central Cass defends title, tops Kindred for third time
· Yahoo Sports
May 30—JAMESTOWN — There is no new state champion in Class B softball this year.
Central Cass topped Kindred/Richland 10-2 Saturday afternoon to win the 2026 Class B State Softball Championship.
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"It feels really good," Central Cass head coach Scott Kost said. "There is a lot of work that goes into it and the kids have worked so hard and they have done everything we've asked them to do. It's been a really good season. This is really rewarding."
Kindred/Richland was not ranked entering the tournament. The Vikings defeated the third-seeded Des Lacs-Burlington and Velva/Drake-Anamoose, the No. 2 seed, in the first two rounds of the tournament.
They just couldn't quite knock off the No. 1 seed.
"They are a good team and they are well-coached and do a lot of things right so this was a great accomplishment," Kost said.
The Squirrels have won eight of the Class B State Championships since the program started in 2012. In every year except 2016, 2020 and 2023, the Squirrels have played for a state championship. The squad has been back-to-back champs three times (2018-2019, 2021-2022, 2025-2026).
"You have to start over and we talk about that right away," Kost said of how the program handles success. "What we did last year doesn't really matter. What is important is putting the work in right away — and they did that."
While they were the No. 1 seed entering the tournament, the Squirrels had to come from behind on a couple of occasions during the weekend.
After defeating Pembina County North 13-3 in the quarterfinals, the Squirrels had to do battle with Beulah for a spot in the championship game. Kost's crew fell behind 11-4 before the bats got going. The Squirrels edged out the Miners 12-11.
On Saturday, they found themselves down again.
Kindred's No. 9 hitter, Lauren Schlieman, got the Vikings on the board in the top of the second with a double that split the outfielders. Schlieman's hit sent Ellie Taszarek home to make it a 1-0 ball game.
At that point, all the momentum was with Kindred but — in the fourth — something shifted.
"(Earlier today) we talked about how we beat Kindred in the Region championship game and what our game plan needed to be and what we needed to do and the kids just did a really good job of going out and executing it," Kost said. "They didn't take anything for granted — they came out and worked hard and did what they needed to do."
The Vikings faced 13 batters in the bottom of the fourth. Central Cass strung together nine runs on five hits.
"I was feeling a lot better after that," Kost said with a smile. "That was a big inning. We ran the bases well, we had some timely hitting and that really set the tone for the rest of the game."
Senior Aspyn Prien hit her second home run of the tournament during the inning. Prien was one of the nominees for the 2026 Senior Athlete of the Year.
"She has been a leader really from the day she came into our program as a seventh grader," Kost said of Prien. "She is a key leader of this team and she played an amazing game."
While Saturday signaled the end of the road for Prien and the other five seniors on Central Cass' roster, the rest of the Squirrels will get back to business next week.
"We are going to take a deep breath and enjoy this and enjoy what went into this," Kost said. "I really want the kids to soak all of this in and enjoy it and then we'll get some stuff going this summer."
Central Cass 10, Kindred 2
KIN 010 000 1 — 2 9 1
CC 000 901 X — 10 11 1
KIN: Charlie Odegaard; CC: Whitney Mitchell. W — Mitchell. L — Odegaard
Highlights: CC — Mitchell (7 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K); Bradey Bosse 2-3, 2B; Rya Zimmerman 2-4, 2B; Madeline Steig 2-4, 3 RBI, 2B; Aspyn Prien 1-4, 3 RBI, HR.
KIN — Josie Matthys 2-4; Janna Taszarek 2-4, RBI; Lauren Schlieman 1-3, RBI, 2B.
Class B State Softball Tournament
May 30
Seventh place: Glenburn 13, Pembina County North 11
Fifth place: Thompson 8, Des Lacs-Burlington/Lewis and Clark 3
Third place: Beulah 6, Velva-Drake/Anamoose 0
Championship: Central Cass 10, Kindred/Richland 2