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Chisago Lakes 4, Hermantown 3
The Wildcat girls’ softball team is headed to the state tournament for the first time in Chisago Lakes High School history.  They beat the Hermantown Hawks 4-3 in the Section 7AAA championship game Thursday, June 2 to punch their ticket to state.  Junior Ashley Mandell pitched a complete game to pick up the win.  The game was played at Forest Lake High School.

Freshman Anna Zaruba led off the second with a line drive homerun to straightaway left field.  The Wildcats added three more runs that inning to take a 4-0 lead.  Mandell and the Wildcat defense held the Hawks scoreless until the fifth inning, when the Hawks scored three times to cut the Wildcat lead to 4-3.  In the bottom of the seventh, the Hermantown leadoff batter ripped a line drive that was headed toward the left field corner.  Left fielder Courtney Preston raced over, dove full out and caught the ball in the webbing of her glove a couple of feet inside the line.  If the ball had gotten by Preston, the batter would likely have had a triple.  Instead, there was one out.  With two outs, Mandell got the batter to hit a weak grounder right back to her.  Mandell knocked it down, picked it and flipped t top first to nab the runner, and the Wildcats were headed to the state tournament.

The Class AAA state tournament will be played at Caswell Park in North Mankato June 9 and 10. Chisago Lakes drew the fourth seed and will take on fifth-seeded Benilde St. Margaret's on June 9 at 11 a.m.

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