LAKE MILLS — A 7-3 win over state power Sun Prairie East on April 25 gave the L-Cats confidence they could beat anyone.
Fast forward six weeks and Lake Mills is a pair of wins from the summit of high school softball.
Fourth-seeded Lake Mills faces top-seeded Mosinee at the State Softball Tournament in a Division 2 semifinal at Madison’s Goodman Diamond Friday at 2:30 p.m. in the L-Cats’ first-ever state appearance.
Second-seeded New Berlin Eisenhower (21-4) takes on third-seeded Waupun (18-4) in Friday’s second semifinal, with the winners slated to play on Saturday at 4 p.m. for the state championship.
The L-Cats (23-4) are a loose group, but a hyper-focused one in the same breath. As much as they are reveling in their sectional success, there’s still work to be done.
“We had a goal of getting to state, but that’s not the end goal,” senior captain and first baseman Taylor Wollin said. “We want to hold up the gold ball on Saturday. We’ll go out there and compete like we know we can. We’ll focus on soaking up the loud and quiet moments, too.”
Senior pitcher Ava Kleinfeldt, also a captain, has been a thorn at the side of opposing hitters all season, posting an ERA of 1.00 across 98 innings. She has a 14-1 record, striking out 114 against just 10 walks.
“I’ve gotten better in my career at knowing the hitters, working with my different pitches and mixing in different pitches,” Kleinfeldt said. “All year long, the defense behind me has been phenomenal.”
Junior lead off hitter Savannah Radtke, who plays third base, is the team’s leading hitter by average (.482) and on-base percentage (.557). She was, quite literally, a different hitter last season.
“This time last year, I was a right-handed hitter in the midst of switching to a left-handed slapper,” Radtke said. “My at bats did not look like at all what they look like now. I take a lot of pride in my improvement and how that’s helped our team.
“The footwork was the biggest adjustment and that took a lot of concentration, but in the end it was all worth it.”
Radtke was effusive in her praise for the L-Cats’ four-player senior class, which also features outfielders Natalie Grulke and Emily Wollin.
“I absolutely love our seniors and every single one of them works so hard,” Radtke said. “I’m going to be so sad to see them leave, but I know they will all do bigger and better things in life.”
THE PATH
This is not the first Jim Clift-coached Lake Mills team that has had the goods to advance to state. For one reason or another, the L-Cats went 0-3 in their first three sectional semifinal games dating back to 2019.
“Losing at New Berlin Eisenhower in the sectional semifinals last season really lit a fire under us,” said Kleinfeldt, who holds a batting average of .453. “That made us really push to work that much harder and get that much better.”
“We felt we didn’t play our best game last year when we played at New Berlin Eisenhower,” Taylor Wollin added. “Going out there and practicing every single day all summer, everyone getting those reps and putting those finishing touches on so we can get over that hump is what makes this team special. We worked hard in the nine months we weren’t playing high school softball and were really building each other up out of season.”
This group, down to their final strike twice against Jefferson in the sectional semifinals, put together an unforgettable seventh-inning rally to win 2-1, then backed that result up with a 6-2 win over Mount Horeb in the sectional final.
“Our bats have come a long way from the beginning of the season to the end,” junior shortstop Haydenn Sellnow, a .348 hitter who is second on the team with 25 RBIs, said. “We’re all a lot more confident getting into the box and knowing we can perform.”
Clift pointed to the team’s mental toughness and resilience across the board as another area of growth.
“It is not always common in any level of sport, but our girls, when the pressure has been on the most, they thrive in that environment,” Clift said.
THE FOE
Mosinee (28-1) finished the regular season atop Division 2 Coaches Poll and beat third-ranked and defending state runner-up New London in the sectional semifinals. Sophomore Ava Bussey is 24-0 on the bump for the Indians, holding an ERA of 1.16 with 171 strikeouts in 150 1/3 innings, while lead off hitter Taelyn Jirschele is hitting .562.
The L-Cats, despite their seeding, don’t view themselves as underdogs.
“I always love a good underdog story, but I know at the end of the day, whether we are the No. 4 seed or the No. 1 seed, every single team at state is going to be pretty equal,” Radtke said. “You have to play your best and put everything on the field to win.”
THE GOALS
Lake Mills achieved three of its goals for the season: winning the Capitol North title outright, followed by regional and sectional titles. Now, the big stage awaits.
“My message for our team is to take in every minute of it and enjoy it,” Clift said. “This is a special week. When they are old like me, they will still talk about it and remember it. I want them to cherish every moment we have during this week.
“This inevitably will be a lifetime memory, one they paid a price to get and a reward they have earned through years and years of commitment in sacrifice in the sport of softball.”
The L-Cats were collectively overjoyed when the final out of the sectional final was recorded.
“I was ecstatic,” Sellnow said. “I could have cried I was so excited. It was so much fun to be with everyone, making history and being along for the ride.”
Lake Mills has guaranteed itself seven more innings and, as they collectively have all season, will take it one pitch at a time.
“We’ll take the same mindset to state that we’ve had all season,” Taylor Wollin said. “We’ll take it one pitch at a time, one hit at a time and one play at a time and keep rolling with that. “It has worked all year and we’re going to keep it going.”
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