Players say there’s less pressure going into this year’s tourney
Shakespeare buffs out there are familiar with the phrase, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.”
Rosemount’s softball players don’t think it applies to them. True, the Irish are defending Class 4A champions – and will try for a third state title in four years this week – but captains Ari Princl and Cece Hanson said the pressure that was a constant companion for last year’s squad is mostly gone this year.
The 2023 Rosemount softball team was loaded. Everybody knew it, including the Irish. Anything less than a state championship would have been tough to stomach. Rosemount went 26-0.
This year’s Irish (21-4) are again seeded No. 1 at the 2024 Class 4A tourney but probably aren’t considered prohibitive favorites. The field contains several teams with legitimate state championship aspirations, including 2023 state runner-up Forest Lake, the No. 2 seed. Another team to watch is Stillwater, which plays Rosemount in the Class 4A quarterfinals at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Caswell Park in North Mankato. The Ponies (19-5) have won 10 in a row and scored at least nine runs in all four of their Section 4 tournament games.
With 10 returnees from last year’s state tournament roster, Rosemount expects to be able to play its game this week because they know what the state tournament atmosphere is like.
Plus, “I feel like the pressure was kind of off this year,” said Princl, the starting shortstop. “We lost some really good players from last year, but it wasn’t that big of a class. We had a lot of good players coming back.”
But the Rosemount program has been at or near the top of the state rankings since 2021, and the players realize they’re not operating in anonymity. “We have the target on our backs, no matter what,” said Hanson, who plays center field. “Everyone wants to beat Rosemount, but we still have a good team.”
One team with no intention of backing down was Park of Cottage Grove, which faced Rosemount for the Section 3 championship May 30 in Woodbury. The Wolfpack (17-8) lost to Rosemount 1-0 in an eight-inning winners’ bracket final May 28, then defeated Eagan 5-4 the next day to earn another shot at the Irish.
Park took advantage of the wind blowing out to center field, hitting three home runs in a 6-1 victory that handed Rosemount its first loss of the section tourney. That required a second game to decide the championship. Rosemount scored in each of the first five innings of Game 2, including homers by Morgan Honeycutt and Kayla Bartol, and won 9-3.
“The first game definitely wasn’t our game, but we had more energy in the second game,” Hanson said. “I think we knew if we played together we could win that game.”
The Irish also got a gutsy performance from junior Jorey Fry, who threw 248 pitches in the two games May 30. Rosemount was warming up another pitcher during Game 2 just in case, but it seemed clear Fry was going to be in the circle for as long as she could get the ball to home plate.
“She isn’t going to give up and she’s never going to let a team get the best of her,” Rosemount head coach Tiffany Rose said. “I’m super-proud of her for just keeping after it. But yeah, she’ll probably need a little bit of a break the next couple of days.”
Hanson was 4-for-4 with two runs in the section-clinching game. Harper Chappuis went 2-for-3 with two runs. Bartol’s fourth-inning homer scored three runs and boosted Rosemount’s lead to 7-1. Honeycutt’s fifth-inning homer drove in the Irish’s final two runs.
Class 4A, Section 1
For the second year in a row, Farmington needed to win five consecutive games to win the Section 1 championship. This year the Tigers couldn’t quite get there, losing to New Prague 2-0 in the final May 30 at Todd Park in Austin. No. 1-ranked Farmington would have needed to beat New Prague twice to advance to state.
New Prague senior Jordyn Marsh pitched a one-hitter and struck out 14 in the deciding game. She struck out seven of the first nine batters she faced, and Farmington got only one runner as far as second base. Lexi Goring’s leadoff single in the sixth inning was the Tigers’ only hit.
New Prague’s run scored on an error in the second inning. Farmington pitcher Kayla Schweich allowed seven hits and struck out six.
Farmington, which tied Rosemount for the South Suburban Conference championship, finished 21-5. A 5-4 loss to Owatonna in the second round of the section tournament sent the Tigers to the elimination bracket, where they won three in a row before falling to New Prague.
The Tigers graduate five seniors from the softball roster, but several of their top players will be eligible to return next season.
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