ABERDEEN — The Mobridge-Pollock Tigers had a fun state softball tournament debut on Thursday. 

The No. 7 seeded Tigers upset No. 2 Bon Homme, 17-10, in the first round of the Class B softball tournament at the Players Softball Complex. The Tigers will now play No. 6 seed Gayville-Volin in the championship semifinals at 4 p.m. Friday. 

Thursday was Mobridge-Pollock’s first-ever state softball tournament appearance, and it made the most of it. 

“It’s huge,” Mobridge-Pollock coach Andrew Overland said. “We were wondering if we were going to have a program after this year and we got a bunch of middle schoolers out and we are building on it now. This is going to be huge. Kids are going to want to play now.”

The Tigers used five big innings, pounded out 14 hits and received five strikeouts from starter Grace Overland in the victory. Overland allowed nine hits, 10 runs, five earned runs and walked four batters in the memorable victory. 

“I am over the moon right now,” Overland said. “It’s amazing. It’s a great feeling.”

Overland finished 1-of-4 at the plate and drove in a run for the Tigers, who erupted for five runs in the first inning. 

“We came out and set the tone with that five runs and we were like ‘OK why can’t we do that every inning?’ ” said Sophia Overland, who is Grace’s twin sister. “ ‘So let’s come out with the same energy,’ and that’s exactly what we did.” 

Amber Vetch and Faith Heil had three hits apiece. Vetch drove in three runs, while Sophia Overland and Michelle Merkel had two hits apiece. Sophia Overland, Michelle Merkel, Elsy Larsen, Brooke Merkel and Ava Wolff drove in two runs apiece. 

The Cavaliers, however, chipped away at the early deficit and scored two runs in each of the first and second innings, cutting the deficit to 5-4. 

But the Tigers tacked on four more runs in the third inning, added two in the fourth inning, and three runs in each of the next two innings. 

The offensive outburst was a reflection of Mobridge-Pollock’s schedule and the opposing pitchers it faced this season, said coach Overland. 

“We’ve played the toughest schedule in three years,” coach Overland said. “We’ve always kind of come up against good, hard pitching and we just struggle with it. This year we faced it right from Day 1 and they are just not afraid of it anymore. They can hit with anybody.”

Bon Homme scored five runs in the sixth inning, cutting the deficit to 17-10. But never got any closer as the Tigers celebrated their first-ever state tourney win. 

“It’s pretty rewarding to come in the third year and make it, and do something here, too,” coach Overland said.

The Cavaliers recorded nine hits, including two apiece from Olivia Kaul and Reyna Alberts. Kaul and Nevaeh Myers drove in two runs apiece. Bon Homme starter Kenadee Kozak allowed 14 hits, 17 runs (12 earned), walked eight batters and struck out four batters. 

The Cavaliers will play Castlewood in the consolation semifinals at 12 p.m. on Friday.