There was plenty of action on the basepaths for Aberdeen Central on Saturday, but not quite enough scoring.

The Golden Eagles had a pair of rallies fall short in a 10-5 setback to Sturgis, and a 7-3 decision to Spearfish in softball action at Manor Park.

“We definitely had a lot of fun today,” said Central senior Addison Ward. “We had big things like double plays, a home run, lots of hits. Even the though the outcome wasn’t what we wanted, I know for sure each of us had lots of fun, just doing what we do.”

Central tailed 10-0 going into the bottom of the sixth inning against Sturgis when the hometown team pieced together a five-run inning to slice the margin in half. It could have been an even bigger inning, but Central lined into an inning-ended double play on a smash to the first baseman.

“The girl had to catch it out of straight self-defense and natural reaction. But if that goes though …” said Central coach Cassidy Neer. “That baserunner on first, Addyson Keller, said I’m so sorry. I’m like there’s nothing you can do. You reacted when the ball went off the bat. They caught it and you were just stranded.”

Ward got the inning started with her first career home run over the rightfield fence.

“The sound of it sounded good. My only issue was, I wonder if it’s going to go right to the right fielder,” Ward said, “but then when I looked up to look at my coach to see if she wanted me to go or stay, I saw it go right over the fence, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is crazy!'”

Ward’s round-tripper got all of her teammates fired up, as the Golden Eagles collected six hits in the frame.

“Even just like coming back to the dugout after that, you could just feel the energy was on top,” Ward said. “Everybody was just hitting. It was contagious. That feels good.”

While Central dropped the second game as well, the Golden Eagles certainly had their chances.

The hosts left the bases loaded in each of the first two frames, and stranded a total of 13 runners on base throughout the seven innings. As it was, Central scored twice in the bottom of the seventh, but it just wasn’t enough.

“We always come back really late in the innings,” said Central shortstop Avery Bendewald. “I just feel like if we get the bats rolling a little bit sooner, like a few innings sooner, we would be seeing a lot more Ws.”

It was Bendewald who provided the defensive gem of the day.

With a runner on first in the bottom of the second Bendewald snagged a ground ball, spun around to step on second and fired a strike to first base for a double play.

“I kind of felt like I was in the MLB at that moment,” Bendewald said.

She and her teammates briefly celebrated following the stellar play.

“That really got me fired up. I was so proud of that,” Bendewald said. “I like to joke around and make those plays just like when I’m having fun. I just saw the opporutnity and I was like this is my time to take it.”

The play did not come as a suprise to Neer, who knows what Bendwald is capable of doing.

“That’s was honestly textbook. That’s how she is in practice,” Neer said. “She does things like that, so to see her do it in a game and make it look natural was so much fun and so cool. I was really proud of her.”

Central’s other senior Kylee Hoffman had three hits in the Sturgis game. Kaylee Kiesow had a two-run double against Spearfish.

While the Golden Eagles are still looking for their first win of the season, there were plenty of positives to take away from a three-game weekend series.

“I have nothing but good things to say about this weekend,” Neer said. “Obviously, we want to see us capitalize with bases loaded and things like that, but we have our first-ever homestand home run today. Now both of our seniors account for both of our program home runs.”

Central will host Pierre at 4 p.m. Tuesday at Koehler Hall of Fame Field.

Sturgis 202 312 0 – 10 10 2

Aberdeen Central 000 005 0 – 5 8 4

Abby Tweedy, Jayna Johnston (5), Tweedy (6) and Tylee Bestgen; Kaylee Kiesow, Kylee Hoffman (6) and Alivia Roettele. 2B – Sturgis, Avreigh Long 2. 3B – Sturgis, Kierra Killinger. HR – Sturgis, Long; Aberdeen Central, Addison Ward.

Spearfish 101 311 0 – 7 5 2

Aberdeen Central 000 100 2 – 3 3 0

Taylor Tennant, Kaitlynn Sitzman (7) and Liv Johnson; Kaylee Kiesow, Kylee Hoffman (5) and Alivia Roettele. 2B – Aberdeen Central, Kiesow. 3B – Spearfish, Amy Couture.