NORTH MANKATO — A spirited comeback did not pay off with a victory for Stillwater in an 8-7 loss to top-seeded Rosemount in the quarterfinals of the Class AAAA state softball tournament on Wednesday, June 5 at Caswell Park.
The Irish were unable to dispose of Stillwater with a seven-run second inning, but eventually pushed the deciding run across in the bottom of the eighth to spoil the persistent efforts of the Ponies while snapping their 10-game winning streak.
Stillwater (19-6) was scheduled to face fifth-seeded St. Michael-Albertville (18-6) in the consolation round on Thursday morning while Rosemount (22-4), the reigning state champion, faced fourth-seeded New Prague (20-3). The other semifinal featured second-seeded Forest Lake (19-4) vs. third-seeded Rogers (20-3).
The Ponies were riding high after outscoring their opponents by a combined 53-9 in four section tournament victories, but Rosemount turned the tables on Stillwater with seven runs in the second.
Ava Volkmann powered the Ponies with a solo homer in the top of the second for a 1-0 lead, but the Irish responded with four hits, three walks, a hit batter and two errors to jump in front 7-1 in the bottom of the inning.
The big blow came on a grand slam by Kayla Bartol.
“That was just a really rough inning,” Ponies coach Angie Ryan said.
Stillwater finished with eight hits, which was one more than the Irish (7), but they also took advantage of seven walks.
The Ponies started their comeback with four runs in the fifth inning. Volkmann and Mariah Koren each singled and Autumn Lettner drove a two-run single as Stillwater closed the gap. Maya Schroeder than launched a two-run homer as the Ponies climbed within 7-5.
Then in the sixth, Megan Boser dropped a two-out, two-run single into right field to tie the game at 7-all.
“With the way we’ve been hitting, I knew we could do something offensively,” Ryan said. “Getting down 7-1 you have to make something happen, but I knew we could get on a roll because we’ve won 10 in a row and have hit the ball super well.
“We just had to get some base runners and get some things rolling and that’s what happened in the fifth.”
Schroeder was stranded on second for the Ponies in the seventh and they appeared to have something started in the eighth before a line drive by Koren turned into a double play at first base.
“We stayed in there every pitch and we had a couple line drives that if they were a foot higher things are different,” Ryan said. “It’s a funny game, sometimes things just bounce your way.”
“I’m really proud that we came back and fought and found a way to tie the game. Everyone in our batting order can hit and the middle to end of our order really picked it up.”
Instead it was Rosemount that broke through in the bottom of the eighth. Bartol reached on a one-out single and, after a stolen base, Grace Nosan drove in the game-winner with a base hit left-center.
Volkmann finished with three hits to lead the Ponies at the plate.
All seven of Rosemount’s hits came from the top five spots in its lineup.
Still 0 1 0 0 4 2 0 0 — 7 8 3
Rose 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 1 — 8 7 3
WP: Jorey Fry 8-ip, 8-h, 7-r, 5-er, 2-bb, 6-so
LP: Anna Corbid 7 1/3-ip, 6-h, 7-r, 6-er, 6-bb, 5-so
Leading hitters: St, Maya Schroeder 2x4 (HR, 2 RBI), Ava Volkmann 3x4 (HR), Mariah Koren 1x3, Megan Boser 1x2 (2 RBI) and Autumn Lettner 1x3 (2 RBI); Ros, Cecelia Hanson 1x4 (2 RBI), Ariana Princi 1x3, Kayla Bartol 2x5 (HR, 4 RBI), Grace Nosan 1x3 (RBI), Jorey Fry 2x4.
Stillwater 16, Woodbury 1 (4)
At Roseville, the Ponies continued their impressive run through the Section 4AAAA tournament with a 16-1 victory over Woodbury in four innings on Friday, May 31 at the University of Northwestern.
The Royals (14-11) defeated top-seeded White Bear Lake and third-seeded North St. Paul in the tournament, but were unable to slow down Stillwater’s bats in two games. The Ponies also defeated Woodbury 15-4 in five innings in the winners bracket finals on May 28. In two section games, Stillwater outhit the Royals by a combined 32-5.
Maya Schroeder delivered four hits, including a triple, as nine different players collected at least one hit in the game. Ava Volkmann singled twice and homered to drive in six runs for Stillwater, who scored three times in the first on the two-out, three-run homer from Volkmann — her first of the season. The Ponies then pulled away with 12 runs in the second.
“That was huge,” Ponies coach Angie Ryan said of Volkmann’s homer. “We’re just hitting the ball extremely well to all fields and just kind of on fire one through nine.”
Stillwater also played solid defense behind Anna Corbid and Cece Lamey, who combined to limit the Royals to just three hits in the game.
“Our defense has really picked it up as well lately,” Ryan said.
The section title is the first for the Ponies since 2021.
It feels good because in 2022 we went to the final game and pushed that against White Bear Lake and lost by a run,” Ryan said. “It was really tough section last year and we were supposed to not be very good, but went 19-5 and won the conference, which no one expected, and just had a really fun year and a good ride. The end wasn’t what we would have preferred, but it was a great season overall. It’s just really good to get back there.”
Woodbury 0 0 1 0 — 1 3 1
Stillwater 3 12 1 x — 16 16 1
WP: Anna Corbid 2-ip, 1-h, 0-r, 0-er, 0-bb, 0-so
LP: Kate Rapp 2/3-ip, 3-h, 4-r, 4-er, 6-bb, 0-so
Leading hitters: Wo, Isabella Zebro 2x2 (RBI) and Summer Connolly 1x2; St, Maya Schroeder 4x4 (3B, RBI), Lilly Grundner 1x2 (RBI), Brianna Murphy 1x1, Addison Coffey 2x4 (3 RBI), Ava Volkmann 3x3 (HR, 6 RBI), Amber Buchkoski 1x1 (2 BB, 2 RBI), Mariah Koren 1x1 (2B, 2 BB, 2 RBI), Megan Boser 2x2 (RBI) and Autumn Lettner 1x3.
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