DICKINSON, N.D. – The Valley City State softball team ended its NSAA Tournament run Sunday to top-seed Bellevue. Bellevue defeated the Vikings 6-3 to earn its way back into the NSAA Softball Tournament Championship.
 
Valley City State ends its season with a 28-22 overall record and a 17-6 mark in conference play.
 
Bellevue (32-19) advances to play Dickinson State in the tournament championship on Monday morning at 10 a.m. MT. The Bruins need to defeat Dickinson twice. 
 
Katie Cunningham’s 2-run single in the first inning gave Bellevue an early 2-0 lead. The Vikings would tie the game in the top of the second, getting an RBI single by Alyssa DePoorter and an RBI triple by Makenzee Stone. 
 
Bellevue’s next three runs were all unearned as the Bruins took advantage of five VCSU errors in the game. 
 
The Vikings outhit the Bruins 10-4 in the contest. Alyssa DePoorter, Makenzee Stone and Sierra Crocker all had two hits each for the Vikings, and Stone drove in two runs. 
 
Maddy Zander took the loss in the circle for VCSU. She gave up four hits and six runs – three of which were earned – walked four and struck out six.
 
Katie Cunningham picked up the win in relief for Bellevue. After coming on in the second inning, Cunningham shut the Vikings down for 3.2 innings, allowing just two hits and no runs. Cory Carrillo pitched the final two innings for the save. 
 
Cunningham, Liana McMurtry, Alexa Sidel and Breanne McMurtry all had one hit for Bellevue. Cunningham drove in two runs, and Breanne McMurtry and Sidel each had an RBI.