The Jackson County Central softball team’s championship hunt came to an end after an intense semifinal loss to Visitation in the Class AA State Tournament on Wednesday.
The sixth-seeded Blazers upset the second-seeded Huskies 2-1 at Caswell Park in North Mankato. JCC will play St. Cloud Cathedral for third place on Thursday.
Huskies head coach Morgan Christopher says it’s a shame that somebody had to lose a great semifinal game.
Mady Wachal finished with nine strikeouts as she went the distance for the Huskies and surpassed 500 career strikeouts during the game. She also hit a single at the plate. The Blazers managed six hits, one walk, and earned both of their runs in the first and fourth innings.
The lone Huskies run came in the bottom of the sixth when Bailey Finck hit a one-out triple and scored on a sacrifice RBI bunt by Brielle Tufvesson. Cora Pauling doubled and Miley VanDeVere singled to make four JCC hits.
The 26-2 Huskies can still get more than last year and break the single-season school record for wins when they play St. Cloud Cathedral in the Third Place Game on Thursday. The 24-5 Crusaders entered the bracket as the fifth seed. They rallied to beat fourth-seeded Rockford 6-3 in the quarterfinals before getting outlasted by top-seeded unbeaten Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial 11-5 in the semifinals.
Coverage begins at 12:45 with the first pitch at 1:00 p.m. on KKOJ.
The Knights and Blazers will play Friday’s championship game at 3:00 p.m. inside Jane Sage Cowles Stadium at the University of Minnesota.
Rockford plays Caledonia in the consolation championship at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday. Rockford beat Esko 4-1 and Caledonia beat Dilworth-Glendyn-Felton 5-3 in the consolation semifinals on Wednesday.
COACH INTERVIEW