VOLGA — The Sioux Valley softball team swept Oldham-Ramona-Rutland on Tuesday afternoon and the Cossacks pushed their record to 14-5 on the season.

The Cossacks dominated both games, winning 8-1 and 9-2. Sioux Valley has now won four-straight games after losing three of four. Head coach Tatum Sonnenberg said she thinks her team is finding a groove as they head towards postseason play.

“I think we had a lot of things to overcome in that little rough patch and now we’re coming into our own towards the end of the regular season and postseason play. So, I feel pretty confident with the way they’ve been playing lately and have been working as a team,” Sonnenberg said.

She added that the difference between when the Cossacks have won games and lost games this season is not having the togetherness when things get tough against good teams. However, she thinks her team has improved in that area lately.

“I think a lot of it comes back to team morale and confidence in our teammates to pick us up when we’re in those rough spots. Our biggest downfall has been when we’ve hit that slump of [playing against a good team], we kind of shut down and instead of attacking that, we kind of let it get to us. I think that’s been kind of a low spot and we’ve finally started to work through that and come out on top,” Sonnenberg said.

This is the first year of Sioux Valley softball and going into the year Sonnenberg didn’t have any expectations as far as wins and losses. The Cossacks right now are sixth in Class A with two games to play in the regular season and she said her team has exceeded what she thought was going to happen.

“It wasn’t a wins and losses situation,” Sonnenberg said. “I really just wanted to come into this season and see what my team wanted to accomplish. We set a lot of personal goals for ourselves and what we wanted to do individually, and how we can achieve those goals with our teammates. There wasn’t necessarily a set goal for the season.

“We just wanted to come in and start off with building a team aspect versus winning and losing. But I think they far exceeded those expectations and now our goal is just the next game. Working through the next game so we can get to the next one after that.”

Sioux Valley will close the regular season out on Thursday with a doubleheader at Sisseton. If the Cossacks remained in the top eight of Class A they would host a SoDak 16 game on May 21. Sonnenberg said that would be big for her team as they would be playing to get to the State Tournament.

“I think home games have been our sweet spot this year with our local support from our community and school. All of that has really helped build this program this year with the effort that a lot of outside people have put in. I think those home games just bring that comfortably and that is a huge advantage for anybody. To have that would be great for our team’s confidence,” Sonnenberg said.

Game 1: Sioux Valley 8, Oldham-Ramona-Rutland 1

Abby Axtell pitched all five innings for the Cossacks and that helped propel them to a win in game one. She gave up one unearned run on two hits with five strikeouts and a walk.

ORR scored one run in the top of the first. Rili Hartman hit a one-out single and then came around and scored on an error.

Sioux Valley then scored four runs in the bottom of the inning. Morgan Lemme hit a one-out single and then scored on a Riley Stirling single. Axtell then hit a single and she and Stirling both scored on an error to make it 3-1. Savana Guthmiller scored on an error as well and the Cossacks took a 4-1 lead into the second.

The Cossacks extended the lead to 7-1 in the third. Guthmiller led off the inning and launched one over the center field wall to make it 5-1. Leah Forbes then reached on an error and walks from Amelia Jacobson and Zaylee Lantgen loaded the bases up with one out. Forbes scored on a ground out from Katie Smith and Jacobson scored on an error to make it a six-run game heading into the fourth. Forbes then hit an RBI double in the fourth to make the final 8-1.

Sioux Valley had five hits in the first game. Forbes was 1-for-3 with two RBIs and Guthmiller was 1-for-3 with an RBI. Lemme, Stirling and Axtell were each 1-for-3 and Smith had an RBI without a hit.

ORR had two hits. Hartman went 1-for-1 and Bailey Hyland went 1-for-2.

Game 2: Sioux Valley 9, Oldham-Ramona-Rutland 2

The Cossack offense had nine hits in game two and a six-run second inning pulled Sioux Valley away from ORR. Sioux Valley also had nine RBIs in the second game and Sonneberg said her team has talked about wanting to get their teammates across home plate once they get on base.

“Some of the things that we’ve been working on in practice are, how can I work for the person ahead of me?,” Sonnenber said. “Getting people on base is one thing, but how can I get them home? A lot of people have stepped up at the plate this year in just playing the role of doing something for a time being and they’ve really just taken ownership of doing things for their teammates.

“So, I think all of the things that we’ve talked about at practice and the reputations that we get when we were in those situations have helped build that confidence to do that for the person ahead of them.”

The Cossacks took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Smith walked and Lemme reached on an error with one out and Axtell walked to load the bases up with two outs. Shanna Bakken then drew a walk to give Sioux Valley a lead heading into the second.

An RBI single from Eva Sheeks tied things up for the Raiders in the top of the second. Lantgen led off for the Cossacks in the bottom of the second and she hit a single. Sydney VanBeek followed with a double that sent Lantgen home and gave the Cossacks the lead again.

A single from Smith put runners on first and third with one out and a double from Lemme scored both runners to make it 4-1. Guthmiller then hit a single and Axtell followed with a three-run home run over the center field wall to make it 7-1 through two innings.

ORR got one run back in the top of the third as R Hartman scored on an error. But the Cossacks pushed the lead to seven in the bottom of the inning. VanBeek walked to lead off the inning and Audrey Murano followed with a double to left field and VanBeek scored to make it 8-2. Murano then scored on a sacrifice fly from Guthmiler to make it a seven-run game heading into the fourth.

ORR went down one-two-three in the final two innings and the Cossacks came away with the sweep.

Axtell was 1-for-2 with three RBIs and Lemme was 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Murano was 1-for-1 with an RBI and VanBeek was 1-for-2 with an RBI. Guthmiller was 1-for-3 with an RBI and Lantgen was 2-for-3.

Lantgen pitched a complete game for the Cossacks. She gave up two unarmed runs on two hits with one strikeout and no walks.

ORR had two hits. Sheeks was 1-for-2 with an RBI and Gabby Pickard was 1-for-3.