The 2023 softball season for Hopkins crashed and burned in the district semifinals Saturday morning in Wayland.
The Lady Vikings committed seven errors and yielded an uncharacteristic 14 runs in a 14-6 defeat at the hands of South Christian The loss stung even more because Hopkins had split a very competitive non-league doubleheader with the Sailors a little more than a week ago.
South Christian wasted no time in grabbing an early lead by scoring five runs in the first inning. The Vikings rebounded with three runs in the top of the third to close the gap to 5-4, but essentially were held in check the rest of the way. The Sailors scored in every inning but the second and started to run away with the ballgame with a four-run outburst in the bottom of the sixth.
The Vikings loaded the bases and scored a run in the top the seventh, but the rally fell short.
Hannah Brinks started on the mound for Hopkins and gave way to Dahlia Veldhouse in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Ava Vanderkolk led the 11-hit offensive attack with three hits and Jessica Spray drove in two runs.
Hopkins concluded the season with an overall record of 19-14-2 and it was second in the O-K Silver Conference with a 10-2 mark.
