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The Wildcat girls’ softball team made it one step closer to a state championship this year.  After finishing third in 2022, the Wildcats came in second this year, losing 11-0 to Mankato East in the championship game.  The Wildcats beat Holy Angels 3-2 in the quarterfinals and shut out Delano 5-0 in the semifinals to advance to the championship game.  The tournament was played last Thursday and Friday at the top-notch Caswell Park softball complex in Mankato.

Chisago Lakes 3, Holy Angels 2

In softball, it’s amazing how one swing can make a huge difference in a game.  Anna Zaruba’s three-run homer in the bottom of the fifth inning propelled the Wildcats to a 3-2 win over the Academy of Holy Angels Stars in their midday state tournament matchup last Thursday, June 8.  Senior Ashley Mandell pitched a complete game for the Wildcats to pick up the win.  She allowed two earned runs on seven hits, walked three and struck out eleven.

In the top of the second inning, a Holy Angels batter ripped a low line drive that appeared headed for the gap in right center, but Leah Zaruba quickly moved two steps to her right and snatched it out of the air for the second out of the inning.  In the top of the third, Holy Angels had a runner on third and one out.  Mandell struck out the next batter and hit the one after that but recovered to strike out the next batter and end the threat.

Holy Angels led off the top of the fourth with a line drive up the middle that hit Mandell’s leg and rolled toward third.  The runner reached first for an infield single.  Luckily, Mandell was not injured.  After a strikeout, Riley Mathiowetz doubled to right center.  The Wildcats outfield got the ball in quickly, keeping the lead runner at third.  The next batter bunted the ball toward third.  Third baseman Melana Larson fielded the ball and looked the runner back to third.  As she turned to throw to first, shortstop Courtney Preston, who had run to cover third, yelled for the ball.  Larson spun and threw the ball to Preston, who slapped a quick tag on the runner diving back into third for the second out.  Mandell walked the next batter to load the bases.  A hard single up the middle drove in Mathiowetz, and center fielder Chloe Ruza got the ball in quickly to hold the next runner at third.  Mandell struck out the next batter to end the rally, and the Stars led 1-0.

In the bottom of the fourth, Anna Zaruba led off with a single.  After Melana Larson struck out, Sam Johnson reached when her fly ball to right center was dropped for an error.  Melanie Anderson struck out.  Pinch hitter Morgan Kotval walked to load the bases, but pinch hitter Lily Myhre flew out to center to end the inning.  In the top of the fifth, the Stars leadoff batter singled to left, and took second as the ball skipped all the way to the wall.  One out later, the batter hit a pop fly into short left field that dropped just inside the line.  The runner scored from second, and Holy Angels led 2-0.

In the bottom of the fifth, Preston drilled the first pitch to deep center.  The center fielder initially came in a couple of steps and, by the time she recovered, the ball went over her head all the way to the wall.  Preston slid into second with a double.  Leah Zaruba followed with a grounder that was booted by the shortstop.  Preston held at second and Leah Zaruba was safe at first.  Mandell popped to second.  Anna Zaruba stepped up to the plate and drilled the first pitched over the left-center field fence for a three-run homer to give the Wildcats a 3-2 lead.

In the top of the sixth, with two outs and nobody on, Johnson made a great diving catch on short fly ball to right to end the inning.  The Wildcats went out 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.  The first batter for Holy Angels in the top of the seventh hit a swinging bunt down the first base line.  First baseman Anna Zaruba raced in, barehanded the ball, turned and threw to Leah Zaruba covering first to just nip the runner.  When the next batter came up, third baseman Larson moved in about ten feet in front of third.  The batter ripped a line drive down the line that appeared headed for the left field corner.  Larson showed unbelievably quick reflexes, snatching the ball out of the air backhanded for the second out.  Leah Cierzen hit a ball to deep right center that bounced over the fence for a ground rule double.  The Wildcats intentionally walked one of the Stars’ best hitters, Aubrey Wittwer.  Kaitlyn Pink worked a 3-2 count against Mandell.  Mandell struck her out swinging to end the game and send the Wildcats to a semifinal matchup with Delano.

The Wildcats played a solid game from start to finish.  Wildcat head coach Brenda Carlson said “This is the time to play out of your mind.  We had a really rough practice yesterday.  But this team can shake it off and go get it.  They’re determined.  They’ve been here before.  They’re playing together.  It takes 18 people, playing the way they should.”  And she praised her starting pitcher.  “I’ve had Ashley on varsity since seventh grade,” said Carlson. 

 “She makes me nervous sometimes, but she always bears down when she needs to, and she holds them.  She is now a two-time player of the year in Mississippi 8.  She didn’t let her hitting affect her pitching today, and that’s huge.” 

And what about Anna Zaruba, whose three-run homer changed the game?  Carlson laughed, “I am glad she’s only a tenth grader.”  And Anna Zaruba acknowledged that it was the biggest hit so far in her life.  She said “It was definitely a good one.  It felt really good off the bat, and I was definitely excited going around the bases.”

Chisago Lakes 5, Delano 0

Facing the Delano Tigers early Thursday evening, the Wildcats scored twice in the bottom of the first and never looked back, going on to shut out the Tigers 5-0.  Anna Zaruba started and pitched all seven innings for the Wildcats.  She allowed eight hits, but, as usual, she did not walk anybody, and she struck out eight.

Courtney Preston led off the bottom of the first with a single to left.  Leah Zaruba sacrificed her to second.  Ashley Mandell doubled to right to drive in Preston with the first run of the game.  Anna Zaruba reached on an error, moving Mandell to third.  Jess Dittel, courtesy running for Mandell, stole second.  Melana Larson flew out to right, and Mandell tagged and scored to make it 2-0.  In the bottom of the third, Anna Zaruba singled with one out.  Larson singled, moving courtesy runner Dittel to second.  Sam Johnson singles to left to drive in Dittel, making it 3-0.

For the Tigers in the top of the fourth, a single, an error and a wild pitch put runners on second and third with no outs.  But Anna Zaruba struck out the next three batters, all on changeups, to shut down any potential rally.  In the bottom of the fourth, the Wildcats added two more insurance runs.  Chloe Ruza and Preston opened the inning with back-to-back doubles to make it 4-0.  Leah Zaruba singled to left, moving Preston to third.  Leah Zaruba stole second.  Mandell popped up to short for the first out.  Anna Zaruba hit a grounder back to the pitcher.  Preston tried to score and was thrown out at the plate.  Courtesy runner Jess Dittel stole second.  Melana Larson hit a grounder to second.  The second baseman booted it. Larson reached first and Leah Zaruba scored the Wildcats fifth run of the game.  Delano had two singles in the fifth and one in the sixth, but Anna Zaruba and the Wildcat defense kept the score at 5-0.  The Tigers went down 1-2-3 in the seventh, and it was off to the state championship game for the Wildcats.

Anna Zaruba’s changeup was a difference-maker in this game.  Coach Brenda Carlson said “Her changeup is deadly, and she can throw it at any time in the count.  When they started hitting her early in the game, that was on me.  I forgot to call more changeups.”  Anna Zaruba said “I got a lot of girls out on it and it was fun to see.”  And the Wildcat sophomore looked confident on the mound, although she remarked,  “The second inning, when the bases were loaded, I got a little nervous, but other than that it was good.”

Carlson said “I can’t say enough about how much this team plays together and how much they gel no matter who I am starting.  I didn’t have the same starting lineup as the first game and it doesn’t even matter.  They just feed off each other.  It’s those little things these kids are doing that benefit everybody.  It’s so much fun.  Our conference is strong and it gets us ready for these games.  Nobody in our conference is a walkover anymore.  And I don’t think any other conference can say that.  And our section is tough.  Those [conference and section] games prepare us for this.  Out kids know they have to fight, they know they have to won close games and they know that can come back.”

Mankato East 11, Chisago Lakes 0

The wheels came off for the Wildcats in the state championship game against the Mankato East Cougars on Friday afternoon, June 9.  The defense was shaky, the offense didn’t produce, there were several baserunning errors, and Wildcat pitchers allowed too many baserunners.  In the end, it added up to a lot of runs for Mankato East and none for the Wildcats as the Cougars shut out the Wildcats 11-0 to win the state tournament.

One of the things working against the Wildcats in the game was out of their control.  The home plate umpire, who was working the last game of his 30-year umpiring career, had a strike zone so small it forced the pitchers for both teams to fire pitches right down the middle.  TO be fair, the strike zone was the same for both teams.  But it seemed to affect the Wildcat pitchers more, as the Mankato East batters piled up ten hits.  Wildcat head coach Brenda Carlson did not comment on the umpiring.

Mandell started.  She went three innings and allowed three runs, all earned, on two hits.  She walked one and struck out one.  Anna Zaruba pitched the final three innings.  She gave up eight runs (six earned) on eight hits, walked one and struck out three.  She gave up two two-run homers in the bottom of the sixth.

Wildcats head coach Carlson said, “Today, the harder we pushed, the harder it fell apart.  And that sometimes happens.  It doesn’t matter what you do or what you try to do, it just doesn’t work.  It just wasn’t our day today.  This season, our kids haven’t made errors and haven’t made baserunning mistakes.  It compounded, and the more they tried, the worse it got.  Sometimes, you just gotta go ‘it is what it is.’” 

Looking to the future, Carlson said, “The players look at this as a step.  Two years in a row we made it [to the state tournament], three years in a row we’ve won the conference.  We’ll lose three seniors.  But they’re focused.  These kids play together, win, lose, or draw.  It’s a hard loss, but they’ll be all right.”

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