ALEXANDRIA, S.D. — Timely hitting tilted a Class B SoDak 16 softball meeting away from Hanson in favor of Mobridge-Pollock on Tuesday.

In an otherwise competitive contest to decide a state tournament bid, the No. 9-seeded Tigers capitalized in tight situations to score a 7-2 victory over the No. 8-seeded Beavers.

In the three years of South Dakota High School Activities Association-sanctioned softball, it’s Mobridge-Pollock’s first state tournament berth.

Mobridge-Pollock jumped ahead early with a run in the top half of the first inning, then added three more in the third. All three runs in the third frame were manufactured with two outs, an early sign of a game-defining trend.

“We had lots of base runners, but when it came to the scoring opportunities, we just couldn't get the key hit. They played great defense and took away a few awesome hits from us,” said Hanson coach Jessi Kampshoff. “And when they would get a base runner on, they seemed to score every time.”

All told, the Tigers scored five of their seven runs with two outs, equaling the game’s final margin. Meanwhile, the Beavers couldn’t come up with a crucial hit, stranding 11 baserunners for the game.

After falling behind 6-0, Hanson scored both its runs in the fifth inning, as Olivia Kayser smacked a one-out, two-run double that reached the wall in left-center field on the hop. Skya White and Jacey Schoenrock came in to score, but the Beavers’ rally stalled with two runners in scoring position.

“We tended to start slow and then come alive, but we just didn’t until about the fourth inning,” Kampshoff said. “... I think we came out with too many nerves, and then we never really overcame them in those big game situations.”

Mobridge-Pollock out-hit Hanson 11 to five, and the Beavers had three errors to the Tigers’ one. For Hanson (16-7), Jersey Kampshoff had two hits, while Kayser had one and worked a pair of walks. In the circle, Kayser tallied nine strikeouts while yielding two walks and four earned runs.

Grace Overland earned the pitching win for the Tigers (11-5), finishing with six strikeouts against six walks and two earned runs. Jacy Netterville, Michelle Merkel and Amber Vetchall all notched two hits, and Elsy Larsen drove in a pair of runs. The Tigers were playing for a third-straight season in the SoDak 16 on the road, but broke through this year, the team's first season in Class B softball.

Mobridge-Pollock awaits re-seeding into the Class B state tournament bracket, which saw top seeds Deuel and Bon Homme advance on Tuesday. State quarterfinals begin Thursday, June 5, in Aberdeen.