Huskies clip Cardinals in playoff opener

The Jackson County Central softball team started their Section 3AA Tournament by defending their home field against Redwood Valley on Tuesday.
The top South seed Huskies blanked the fourth-seeded Cardinals 9-0 in their 2026 home finale. Redwood Valley began the day by eliminating Minneota-Canby 8-3 in the first round.
Hadley Wachal was near-perfect in the circle for five innings with 10 strikeouts and one walk.
Brielle Mouw tossed four strikeouts while finishing off the last two innings.
The second-ranked Huskies produced their first run in the bottom of the first when Mady Wachal doubled to bring home Clara Brinks and make it 1-0 JCC.
Cora Pauling scored when Hadley Wachal got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the third. Brinks scored her second run on a passed ball.
Miley VanDeVere singled to bring Mady Wachal to the plate. Brielle Tufvesson doubled to score Brielle Mouw as a courtesy runner along with Miley VanDeVere and make it 6-0 JCC.
Cora Pauling’s lead-off double in the fourth helped force the Cardinals to pitch to Bailey Finck after intentionally walking her twice before. Finck smashed a two-run home run over the right-field fence to make it 8-0 JCC.
Tufvesson plated Julia Bidne in the same frame for the final Huskies run. BT finished 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and a trio of runs batted in. CJ Pauling also added a single in her final JCC home game.
The 22-1 Huskies have won 19 straight games with New London-Spicer up next in Marshall on Saturday. Our coverage begins at 11:15 with the first pitch at 11:30 a.m. on KKOJ. The semifinal round takes place next Tuesday, May 26 and the championship round is on Thursday, May 28.

FULL POST-GAME SHOW

Section 3AA 🥎
SOUTH
4S Redwood Valley 8, 5SMinneota/Canby 3
1S Jackson County Central 9, RV 0

2S Pipestone 11, 7S Worthington 1 (5 inn)
6S Luverne 6, 3S Windom 5
Pipestone 10, Luverne 1

Section 3AA 🥎
NORTH
5N Litchfield 11, 4N Minnewaska 8
1N Morris Area/Chokio-Alberta 9, Litchfield 0

2N New London-Spicer 7, 7N Montevideo 1
3N Dassel-Cokato 9, 6N Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City 2
New London-Spicer 1, Dassel-Cokato 0

Section 3AA 🥎
Saturday 5/23 in Marshall

11:30am – Championship Bracket
JCC vs. NLS
MACA vs. Pipestone
WIN = Semifinal on Tuesday 5/26
LOSS = play at 3:30pm

1:30pm – Elimination Bracket
RV vs. DC
Litchfield vs. Luverne
WIN = play at 3:30pm
LOSS = elimination