Girls Softball: Pairings set for inaugural championship series

After 14 hours of softball, the championship game entrants are set for the Minnesota State High School League’s inaugural Prep Softball Championship Series. The qualifying marathon on Wednesday, June 4 at Caswell Park in North Mankato was created when prolonged heavy rain washed out Tuesday’s quarterfinal round.

It took creative scheduling and the usage of six fields to set the stage for 32 games to be played in the quarterfinals, semifinals and consolation semifinals of four enrollment classifications. The semifinal storylines were powerful, too. Only one top seed, United South Central in Class A, was able to survive a day filled with stunning upsets. 

The upset binge includes the dethroning of two defending champions. 

Perhaps the most eye-popping was St. Cloud Cathedral’s 8-6 victory in nine innings over Randolph, the defending Class AA champion and considered by most the best high school team in Minnesota this season. The No. 4-seeded Crusaders squashed the hopes of a repeat by rallying from a two-run deficit to force extra innings and then enjoying a two-run blast over the fence in right center by junior first baseman Tayla Vought. St. Cloud Cathedral manufactured eight runs and 14 hits off Randolph’s Carter Raymond, a University of Minnesota recruit and considered the state’s best high school pitcher. 

About 25 minutes earlier, No. 5 Rocori (19-5) delivered an equally thunderous upset with a 2-0 victory over top-seeded Mankato East in a Class AAA semifinal. Senior catcher Sophia Hess supplied the power with a line drive two-run homer in the fifth inning that hooked around the left field foul pole. She hit the dramatic home run off Mankato East senior pitcher Kylinn Stangl, another University of Minnesota recruit. 

Mankato East was the two-time defending Class AAA champion and attempting to become the first three-peat champion in the four-class era. Junior pitcher Jess Boos held Mankato East to three hits. Earlier in the day, Boos pitched 14 innings in the Spartans’ 2-1 victory over Becker in the quarterfinals. 

Randolph and Mankato East weren’t alone.

In an early Class AAAA semifinal, No. 4 Bloomington Jefferson (25-2) recorded a 3-2 victory over top-seeded Forest Lake to earn a berth in the big-school championship game for the first time in five state tournament trips. Forest Lake was seeking its fourth Class AAAA championship game berth since 2021. In that span, the Rangers were the runner-up twice and the champion in 2022. Junior infielder Grace Rolek highlighted a two-run fifth inning to send the Jaguars past Forest Lake. Bloomington Jefferson sophomore right-hander Brook Borwege walked none and scattered seven hits. She allowed just one baserunner over the final three innings. 

Not to be outdone, Champlin Park, Hawley, Byron and Badger/Greenbush-Middle River also had spine-tingling victories.

Tournament rookie Champlin Park, the No. 2 seed in the Class AAAA bracket, completed the championship game pairing behind a bases-loaded walk-off single to left field by senior outfielder Ava Parent in a 3-2 victory over No. 6 White Bear Lake. In a prelude to her clutch hit, Parent, a University of Wisconsin recruit, and White Bear Lake junior pitcher Lilly Martin engaged in a dandy duel featuring numerous fouled-off pitches. Earlier in the game, Martin recorded her 500^th career strikeout. 

In Class AAA, No. 6 Byron (17-6) illustrated how it is playing its best softball of the season with two upset victories. The Bears, also making their state tournament debut, defeated No. 3 Cretin-Derham Hall, 4-3, in the quarterfinals. A few hours later, the Bears were off and running with three runs in the first inning en route to a 6-4 victory over No. 2 Chisago Lakes. 

Hawley, the No. 6 seed in the Class AA field, needed 11 innings to finally get past No. 7 Jackson County Central in the semifinals. Junior Addison Sanvik hit an RBI line drive single to left field to score junior Brooke Geffe to give the Nuggets (27-2) enough to push past Jackson County Central, who had scoring chances squelched in the 11^th inning. Hawley junior pitcher Eagan Hastings had 11 strikeouts. 

After the 15-hour marathon of softball, United South Central was the lone survivor of top seeds. 

The Rebels, also making their state tournament debut, posted two victories on the day, primarily on the arm of junior pitcher Mariah Anderson. The Rebels opened with a 12-0 victory over Blackduck in the quarterfinals. Anderson had 13 strikeouts in a five-inning perfect game performance. In the nightcap, she was equally amazing by surrendering just two hits while striking out a state tournament record 20 batters in a 6-0 victory over Braham in the semifinals. 

Her 20-strikeout performance matches the feat previously set by Pine City’s Rhiannon Sauter in 2007 and Nicollet’s Marah Hulke in 2022. 

Badger/Greenbush-Middle River (21-6) completed the Class A championship pairing with a 1-0 victory over No. 7 Bethlehem Academy. Senior Quinn Vacura ripped a two-out single to right field that scored junior Teagan Landsrud from second in the bottom of the ninth inning to spark the Gators. 

Here is a look at the pairings in the Prep Softball Championship Series on Friday, June 5 at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus: 

Class AAAA

• No. 4 Bloomington Jefferson (25-2) vs. No. 2 Champlin Park (23-2), 9 a.m.

Class AAA

• No. 5 Rocori (19-5) vs. No. 6 Byron (17-6), 11:30 a.m.

Class AA

• No. 4 St. Cloud Cathedral (25-2) vs. No. 6 Hawley (27-2), 4 p.m.

Class A

• No. 1 United South Central (25-1) vs. No. 6 Badger/Greenbush-Middle River (21-6), 6:30 p.m.