Ryan Ladika/MDN Cali Wilson tees off from the tee box during a preseason practice at Souris Valley Golf Course. Wilson shot a 90 at the St. Mary’s Invite Friday morning, a personal season-low and the third-best mark on the team.

The Minot Majettes golf squad hit the road south to Bismarck Friday morning and weathered cloudy and rainy conditions, taking fifth place in the St. Mary’s Invitational with a team score of 359.

The team’s placing in its third invite of the season represented a bounce-back from their last tournament appearance, an eighth-place showing at the two-day East-West tournament Aug. 16-17. The Majettes opened their season Aug. 13 at the Turtle Mountain Community High School Invite with an overall mark of 374, good for a fourth-place finish.

“I thought we handled the adverse conditions on the course pretty well, we got rained on for about half of the tournament, and then the girls toughed it out and kept playing well,” head coach Scott Foltz said. “I had a few kids who overcame a couple of tough holes and shot up a pretty decent score.”

Bismarck Century’s Leah Herbel shot a 75 to earn medalist honors with the lowest score of the invite, and Minot’s Addison Sorenson and Morgan Strange both posted marks of 88 to pace their squad.

Sorenson’s final tally marks the third consecutive day of action with which she has finished with an 88, dating back to her identical showings on both days of the East-West invite earlier this week, as well as a tie for her season-low after she shot a 94 at Turtle Mountain to open the season.

“Addison is a good scrambler, she has a way of getting up and down, and I think she’s just a shot away from breaking past that 88 barrier,” Foltz said. “I think we’re going to see that soon from Addison. She’s a good putter and a hard-working kid.”

Cali Wilson finished third on the team with a 90, marking a new season-low after she recorded a score of 93 at Turtle Mountain to open her season.

“Her driver was really benefitting her. She hits it long and straight, and that really takes a lot of pressure off when you can have a nice drive,” Foltz added.

Mackenzie Strange pulled in at fourth place on the team with a 93, followed by Sidney Ressler’s 95 and Avery Falcon’s 105. Ressler improved upon her showing at the East-West invite, where she registered a 101 and 102 during the two-day meet.

“What I like about Sidney is she’s enthusiastic,” Foltz continued. “She loves being out there, she handles the pressure so well. I really think that as she matures and gets more and more varsity experience, we’re going to keep seeing that score drop. She’s a strong kid who, when she hits that ball, she can drive it a long ways.”

The Majettes’ fourth invite of the season is scheduled for Monday morning with a 10 a.m. tee time in Dickinson.

“I think leading the tee shot in the fairway,” Foltz said of his team’s focus entering the next tournament. “I think that the temptation is going to be to always want to hit your driver, which is terrific if you can hit it and you’re hitting it well. But in Dickinson, that first shot, you have to place it in the fairway so that you can have a second and third shot with a chance of scoring.”