Mayville State University won the 2021 North Star Baseball Tournament championship over Bellevue 16-2. Photo courtesy NSAA.
By Mark Potts
VALLEY CITY, N.D. – Mayville State University won the NSAA Baseball Postseason Championship on Monday afternoon, defeating Bellevue University in a winner-take-all title game.
The Comets scored in each of the first five innings as they built a 10-1 lead and coasted to a 16-2 victory. Mayville State earns the conference’s automatic berth to the NAIA Opening Round. Mayville will find out its location and opponent when the national tournament bracket is announced Thursday at 4 p.m.
Bellevue University is a host site for the NAIA Opening Round and will advance as well. The Bruins will also find out their opponent on Thursday afternoon.
VALLEY CITY, N.D. (vcsuvikings.com) – Valley City State baseball swept the final edition of the North Star Athletic Association Baseball Players of the Week. Reed Butz was selected as the Pitcher of the Week and Jorun Hamre was chosen as the Player of the Week.
North Star Athletic Association Baseball Pitcher-of-the-Week
Reed Butz – Valley City State (N.D.) – 6’2″ – Junior – pitcher – Rockford, Ill. – Butz tossed eight shutout innings as Valley City State (N.D.) went 4-1 record for the week. He pitched two shutout innings with two strikeouts, despite a 5-3 extra-innings setback at NCAA Division I North Dakota State. He followed up with a victory over Presentation (S.D.) after pitching six scoreless innings with 11 strikeouts. For the week, Butz limited its opponents to .148 batting average (4 hits allowed) and tallied 13 strikeouts. He did not allow a run.
VALLEY CITY, N.D (vcsuvikings.com) – Valley City State swept the final edition of the North Star Athletic Association’s Softball Players of the Week. Emily Smith was named Pitcher of the Week and Jessica Husband was chosen as Player of the Week. It is the fifth time this season that the Vikings have swept the weekly honor.
North Star Athletic Association Softball Pitcher-of-the-Week
Emily Smith – Valley City State (N.D.) – 5’7″ – Senior – pitcher – Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, Canada – Smith earned three victories on the week, including two shutouts as Valley City State (N.D.) went 6-0 record for the week. The Vikings claimed the North Star Athletic Association regular-season title as Smith tossed a complete game with 11 strikeouts and allowed one run on four hits in 9-1 victory at Mayville State (N.D.). For the week, Smith gave up just one run and finished all three games in five innings. She struck out 25 batters and held its opponents to a .113 ba
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May 2, 2021 9:04 PM
BISMARCK, N.D. (NSAA) – The brackets for the 2021 North Star Athletic Association Postseason Softball Tournament are set for May 6-8. Bellevue will be this year’s conference tournament host set. The tournament takes place at The Lied Center Field in Bellevue, Neb. May 9 has been reserved as a weather make-up day
All eight teams will play in the NSAA Softball Postseason Conference Tournament, which features a double-elimination format. The seeding is based on the regular-season North Star conference record (winning percentage).
Valley City State won their second straight North Star Athletic Association conference regular-season title outright with 25-2 record (32-5 overall record). The Vikings will be the No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament.