All season long, Sioux Falls Lincoln was the top team in Class AA softball and now the Patriots have the hardware to prove it.

Top-seeded Lincoln turned back Brookings 3-0 to capture the state championship Saturday evening at Koehler Hall of Fame Field.

“They’re a very resilient group. They have ultimate confidence, complete respect for the other team, but ultimate confidence in themselves. That’s really important,” said Lincoln coach Trent Dlugosh. “I told them after the game, that the hardest thing in sports to do is live up to expectations. Where at the start of the year everybody thought that they were going to win, and then to actually win it, it’s hard to do. I’m really proud of them for that.”

And it was earned, not given.

Lincoln had to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the seventh inning to preserve the victory.

“I like the big situations,” said Lincoln pitcher Madison Evans who was up to the challenge.

Evans allowed just three hits. While the Bobcats had numerous runners throughout the contest, Evans was able to prevent Brookings from getting on the scoreboard.

“It’s one thing where she has many pitches we can choose from,” said Lincoln catcher Avery Dorman, “and another thing is that she can trust me when calling a pitch. I’m glad that she has that trust in me, because I trust that she can get it into a strike.”

Lincoln scored the only run it would need in the third inning when Nora Christiansen tripled and later scored on a wild pitch. The Patriots got two insurance runs in the fifth on Katleyn Hamm’s two-run double.

The Patriots could have scored many more, but ended up leaving the bases loaded in three innings and had two left on in two other frames.

In a tight game, that can be cause for concern, but Dlugosh never verablized it.

“We just never really said it out loud. The coaches were worried about it,” he said. “We just sort of thought if we didn’t mention it to the players, they maybe wouldn’t notice.”

Brookings got out of one of the jams when second baseman Kylie Moe snared a hot line drive and turned it into an unassisted double play. Centerfielder Kymber Buys later made a stellar diving catch to rob Lincoln of a hit to start the seventh inning.

In the end though, Evans and her teammates were not going to be denied.

“I knew based on our energy from the start that we were not going to let them beat us,” Evans said. “We all had this confidence and this trust in each other going into the game, and we just knew we were not going to blow this.”

Dorman led the Patriots with three hits, and Kierra Lubovich added two, but Dorman said everybody played a role in the state title victory.

“We just believed in our dugout, because all the people on the bench, even though they weren’t playing, they were making sure that they were louder than the other team’s dugout every inning,” Dorman said. “Honestly, that makes a big change for me and Madison, and the rest of us on the field.”

Evans and Dorman were both named to the all-tournament team as was Gracie Adamson and Buys from Brookings. Other all-tourney selections were Ashlen Johnson and Emma Buie of Sioux Falls Jefferson, Tenley Rude and Peyton Amdahl of Brandon Valley, Tierney Schramm of Sioux Falls Washington, Paxton Dekkers of Harrisburg, Grace Behrns of Yankton, and Kira Mentele of O’Gorman.

In other action on the day, Sioux Falls Jefferson rapped out 15 hits and grabbed an 11-1 win over Brandon Valley for third place.

Sydney Tagtow had three hits and knocked in three runs, including two on a double in a four-run third inning. Kendall Kniffen had a pair of hits and also drove in three, including two on a double in a four-run sixth inning. Haley Fodness also had three hits in the victory.

Sioux Falls Washington scored three runs in the top of the sixth to break a tie score and secure fifth place with a 6-3 win over Harrisburg. Ava Brink drove in one with a single, Tajsia Herron had a sacrifice fly, and Emily Akkerman drove in another with a double.

Emma Henlsey, Tierney Schramm and Brink each had two hits for the Warriors. Harrisburg had rallied from 3-0 deficit with three runs in the third, two coming in on back-to-back RBI triples from Ava Gross and Macy Bryant (who also had two hits).

Yankton scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth to turn back O’Gorman 6-2 for seventh place. Payton Moser drove in a run with a single, Emma Eichacker drove in a pair, and Kyra Tjeerdsma stole home.

Elle Feser had two hits, including a two-run homer in the first inning, to lead Yankton. Kira Mentele and Samantha Fonder each had two hits for O’Gorman, which tied the game with two runs in the fifth on an Olivia Tobin sacrifice fly and Mary Koch’s RBI double.

In the end, there was one team left to celebrate the first-ever Class AA state softball championship.

“Obivously, this season was different than other seasons,” Evans said, “but I think it’s really cool that we got this opportunity, because we just made history.”

Championship

Sioux Falls Lincoln 001 020 0 – 3 10 0

Brookings 000 000 0 – 0 3 1 Madison Evans and Avery Dorman; Gracie Adamson and Morgan Linstad. 2B – Sioux Falls Lincoln, Katelyn Hamm; Brookings, Ava Sandine, Adamson. 3B – Sioux Falls Lincoln, Nora Christiansen.

Third Place

Sioux Falls Jefferson 004 004 3 – 11 15 1

Brandon Valley 001 000 0 – 1 4 3

Whitney Portner and Emma Buie; Jorden Gabert, Macy Lembcke (7) and DJ Schoby. 2B – Sioux Falls Jefferson, Kendall Kniffen 2, Haley Fodness, Sydney Tagtow, Ashlen Johnson, Sidney Jensen.

Fifth Place

Sioux Falls Washington 030 003 0 – 6 10 2

Harrisburg 003 000 0 – 3 5 1

Emma Hensley and Isabel Carda; Cora Payne, Madelyn Ducheneaux (6) and Makayla Hudson. 2B – Sioux Falls Washington, Tajsia Herron, Emily Akkerman; Harrisburg, Hudson. 3B – Harrisburg, Ava Gross, Macy Bryant.

Seventh Place

O’Gorman 000 020 0 – 2 6 0

Yankton 200 004 x – 6 5 2

Kira Mentele and Ryann Winterboer; Grace Behrns and Elle Feser. 2B – O’Gorman, Mary Koch, Mentele; Yankton, Feser. HR – Yankton, Feser.