Minnesota high school softball tournament: Edgerton/SW MN Christian takes Class 1A title over Badger/GB-MR
Below are the brackets for each classification:
2023 Class AAAA MSHSL State Softball Championships
2023 Class AAA MSHSL State Softball Championships
2023 Class AA MSHSL State Softball Championships
2023 Class A MSHSL State Softball Championships
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NORTH MANKATO, Minn. -- The No. 5 Edgerton/SW MN Christian Flying Dutchmen defeated the Badger/GB-MR Gators 10-5 in the Class 1A championship game on Friday at Caswell Park.
The Flying Dutchmen scored four runs in the first inning. Paris Van Dyke hit an RBI single to get Edgerton/SW MN Christian on the board. Alyda Vande hit a 2-RBI double, and Myah Vander hit an RBI single.
The Gators scored on a ground ball by Kinsley Hans, and Cassidy Dahl recorded an RBI shortly after.
After two scoreless innings, the Gators tied the game with two runs, but the Flying Dutchmen exploded for three runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Vande reached third base for the Flying Dutchmen on a Brenalyn Smi single to first.
During Elliott Flei's at-bat, the Gators thought they had picked off Vande at third base for the first out of the inning, but instead Flei was called for batter's interference, so the pick-off attempt was nullified and Flei was called out.
Vander hit a slow grounder to the Gator second baseman who threw to home, but Vande was called safe on catcher interference.
The Flying Dutchmen proceeded to score to more runs in the inning, and the Gators did score once in the bottom of the inning to cut the lead to 7-5.
The Flying Dutchmen shut the door on the Gators with another big inning. They scored three runs to extend the lead to 10-5 in another explosive inning.
"It was just about staying in the front of the box and just wait for it and sit on it," Edgerton/SW MN Christian senior Van Dyke said. "[Kinsley Hanson] is a good pitcher, and just hit the ball, honestly."
For the Flying Dutchmen, it's their second state in three years.
"It's honestly just more than a team, and that sounds cheesy, but we just get along so well," Van Dyke said. "As sophomore's we had such good senior leadership, and that's what I looked up to."
The state title comes after the Flying Dutchmen lost six straight games to end their regular season, but they won four straight in the section tournament and three in the state tournament.
"We just had a complete slump," Van Dyke said "We just wanted to come to state. We just worked our butts off for it."
Van Dyke finished with two RBIs, and on the mound she pitched seven innings, allowed eight hits, three earned runs and six strikeouts.
Hanson finished with seven innings pitched, allowing 18 hits, 10 earned runs, one walk and three strikeouts.
