Minnesota State Softball Tournament Begins Today

The top-ranked teams in the final Minnesota Softball Coaches Association Poll in each of the four classes did make it to the state tournament this year.

It's the first year of the expanded four class tournament and features two Big Nine Conference and two Hiawatha Valley League Conference teams.

KDHL and Power 96 Radio will be following the Class AA top-ranked Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougars in their games. The Cougars have not lost to a Minnesota school this year. Their only loss was to Hudson, Wis.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa head coach Kevin Nelson says without a doubt this is the fastest team he's ever had and they know how to use that speed.

The Cougars' team batting average is .393 and remember this is fast-pitch softball. In 24 games they have 24 home runs and have outscored their opponents 277-25. Z-M has 282 hits and their pitching has allowed just 65. The team ERA is 0.917.

In 145 innings, the Cougar pitching staff has 215 strikeouts. The workhorse has been senior Morgan Olson, who is heading to North Dakota State to play softball. She has thrown 113 innings and has 173 strikeouts.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa has two hitters batting over .500 and four more over .400 for the season. Olson has a .538 batting average to lead the team and Matuska is hitting an even .500. Both girls have five homers along with senior Kellie Nordquist. Nordquist is hitting .429.

The Cougars' first-round opponent in the tournament is a tough draw for them. The Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Rebels were ranked seventh in the state in the final coaches poll and have just three losses this year. D-G-F has just three seniors on their team and Z-M seven.

The Rebels team batting average is .360 with 260 runs compared with their opponents' 52 and they have 247 hits while allowing 128. Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton top pitcher junior Jasmine Hanson has 90 strikeouts in 108 innings pitched with an ERA of 1.36. The Rebels have just four homers this year and no member of the team has more than one.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa is hoping to keep the H-V-L state title tradition going in Class AA. Kasson-Mantorville won the title the past two seasons and was bumped up to Class AAA this year. The Komets were defeated in their section final by Winona.

On the same side of the bracket with Z-M is Le Sueur-Henderson, ranked third in the Coaches Poll. Their first-round opponent is unrated Esko.

The Cougars and Rebels square off at 9AM, and our coverage on KDHL Radio 920 AM will begin about 8:50. If they win, the semifinal is 5PM, and if they don't they go to the consolation bracket and play at 7PM.

The second game will be on Power 96 Radio 95.9 FM.

The other two games in Class AA are unbeaten No. 2 rated Pipestone Area against No. 4 Pequot Lakes and No. 5 Rockford tangles with unrated Concordia Academy of Roseville. Those two games are at 11AM.

All games are at the Caswell Park softball complex in North Mankato.

In other classes at state:

Hayfield is back again from the H-V-L in Class A and has a tough draw to open the tournament. The Vikings were rated No. 11 and face No. 10 Cherry in the first round. The Tigers have just four losses and seem to be at state every year.

On the same side of the bracket, No. 14 Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian places unrated Pine River-Backus.

All Class A games are scheduled for 1PM starts.

On the other side of the bracket, No.1 rated and unbeaten New York Mills opens with No. 5 Badger/Greenbush-Middle River and No. 3 Kimball Area plays No. 4 Mankato Loyola.

In Class AAA, the Big Nine Conference champions and top-ranked Mankato West Scarlets will open with No. 10 Alexandria and No. 2 rated Winona plays No. 5 Becker.

Winona and Mankato West are on opposite sides of the bracket, so they could face each other in the title game. Wouldn't that be a blast?

All Class AAA games are scheduled for 11AM starts.

In the same bracket with the Scarlets, the other game features No. 6 Benilde-St. Margaret's playing No. 12 Mahtomedi. The other game has No. 3 Hermantown going up against No. 11 Simley.

In Class AAAA, top-ranked Park opens with No. 9 Buffalo, and the other game in that side of the bracket features Section 1 representative New Prague playing No. 6 Woodbury.

On the other side of the bracket, No. 3 Chanhassen goes up against No. 8 Forest Lake and No. 14 Spring Lake Park tangles with unrated Hopkins.

All Class AAAA games have 9AM scheduled starts.

By the way, in the final coaches poll Faribault Bethlehem Academy was ranked No. 16 in Class A and Owatonna was No. 19 in Class AAAA in large part due to the fact they have been the only team to beat Mankato West this season.