The Jackson County Central softball team advanced to the State Tournament semifinal round for the second year in a row on Tuesday.
The Huskies blanked the Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Rebels 4-0 in the quarterfinals at Caswell Park in North Mankato.
Hadley Wachal wasn’t far from perfect as she finished with 10 strikeouts in her complete-game shutout.
She provided a single at the plate but also walked to begin the bottom of the second. Clara Brinks took over for her as the courtesy runner and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Miley VanDevere singled aboard in the same frame as part of her two-hit day.
Kinley VanDeVere batted her in with the first of her game-high three hits and JCC led 2-0 after the second.
Brielle Tufvesson popped a double and then Julia Bidne scored as a courtesy runner on Mady Wachal’s RBI single to make it 3-0 JCC after the third. Jess Dvorak pinch hit a two-out single in the fourth and eventually scored on what was officially ruled an RBI double for Cora Pauling. Bailey Finck also hit a single as part of an 11-hit day for the Huskies.
JCC head coach Morgan Christopher says they played the solid game they needed for a 23rd straight win.
The 26-1 Huskies tied the school record for most wins in a single season set by the 2004 state championship team.
Visitation pulled an upset as the #6 seed with a 4-2 victory over #3 seed Caledonia on Tuesday. The 22-3 Blazers are the Section 4AA and Tri-Metro Conference champions. They enter Wednesday’s semifinal against JCC on a six-game winning streak.
We expect to begin our coverage of the semifinal round from Field 2 at 4:15 with the first pitch at 4:30 as part of the entire JCC tournament journey on your hometown Huskies station, KKOJ.
The top seed Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial is still unbeaten after shutting down Esko 8-0 and St. Cloud Cathedral rallied to take down Rockford 6-3 in the other quarterfinals.
The Knights and Crusaders play in the other semifinal on Field 1.
COACH INTERVIEW
HADLEY WACHAL
KINLEY VANDEVERE