Blackduck tops Northome/Kelliher 8-2 in Northland Conference game
Blackduck snapped Northome/Kelliher’s unbeaten conference run, winning 8-2 at Bemidji State University and tightening the Northland standings race.
Blackduck handed Northome/Kelliher its first conference loss and turned a mid-May meeting into a real standings shift, beating the rivals 8-2 at Bemidji State University. The result lifted Blackduck to 12-6 overall and moved it closer to the top of the Northland Conference chase, while Northome/Kelliher fell from an 8-0 league mark into a tighter race for seeding and position.
The score mattered because both programs entered the matchup playing some of their best softball of the season. Blackduck had been rolling through the schedule with wins over Lake of the Woods, Crookston and Red Lake Falls, while Northome/Kelliher had stacked up victories over Lake of the Woods, Laporte, Bagley and Cass Lake-Bena. Even with losses to Nevis, 3-0 on April 30, and Fertile-Beltrami, 7-6 on May 8, Northome/Kelliher had still looked like one of the league’s most complete teams before Blackduck slowed it down.
That made the Blackduck win more than another line on a schedule. It checked Northome/Kelliher’s perfect conference start and gave Blackduck a quality result against a team that had been near the top of the standings all spring. In a league race where every head-to-head game can affect the path to postseason positioning, the 8-2 margin gave Blackduck a much-needed boost in momentum as the season pushed deeper into May.
Blackduck’s rise has been built in part on senior leadership. Anna Swedberg was honored after recording 32 strikeouts in the first three games of the 2026 season and reaching 500 career strikeouts, a milestone that underscored the kind of pitching depth Blackduck has carried into league play. Another senior, Jessa Anderson, signed to play softball at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth and earned a reported $30,000 academic scholarship, adding another marker of the program’s strength.
Northome/Kelliher’s roster included Kenna Latterell, Bella Elhard, Bristol Binkley, Kylee Binkley, Leah Skoe and Kiya Buetemeier, a group that had helped keep the team in the conference conversation through its strong start. The loss to Blackduck changed the tone of the race, giving the Drakes a résumé win and leaving the rest of the Northland Conference with a clearer view of how narrow the margin is at the top.
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