Class 4A state softball: Rosemount, Forest Lake advance to final, setting up rematch of 2021 title bout
NORTH MANKATO — Forest Lake softball coach Sean Hall has made a point in recent years to have his team play more for the end of the season than the beginning of it — particularly at the plate.
What exactly does that mean?
“Look, we can have a bunch of home runs against teams that don’t have as good of pitching and have these big swings,” Hall said. “These big swings don’t work when you’re going against good pitching. You’ve got to be able to shorten up. That was kind of a goal going into the year.”
Shorten the swing and be quick to the ball. And, if you’re going to take a big hack, be very selective. Because there are times when your eyes will get big and you know it’s time to attack.
That was the situation Forest Lake senior catcher Bethany Weiss found herself in during the first inning of Thursday’s semifinal against second-seeded Maple Grove. Crimson pitcher Maddie Wihlm is elite. Weiss has faced her many times. But Wihlm may have made a mistake, and Weiss made her pay, belting a two-run blast to left-center field to jumpstart a five-run first frame for Forest Lake.
“I don’t know if that spot was called or if she missed her spot, but it’s my favorite pitch,” Weiss said, “and I swung out of my shoes for it.”
Forest Lake added three more runs in the inning, jumping out to a 5-0 advantage it used to cruise to an 8-0 victory. The third-seeded, defending state champion Rangers will meet top-seeded Rosemount in the Class 4A state title game at 1 p.m. Friday back at Caswell Park in North Mankato.
“They’re starting to hit,” Hall said of the Rangers.
“Our offense has been amazing these past two games,” Weiss said.
That was a requirement to advance out of the quarterfinal round. Forest Lake needed its 11 hits to muster six runs in a 6-5 victory over unseeded Shakopee, which tallied nine hits itself and took advantage of three Rangers’ errors. Forest Lake rallied from deficits of 3-0 and 4-3 before winning on a walk-off in the final frame.
“Our performance in the quarterfinal was a gritty performance,” Weiss said.
And the semifinal?
“We came out here with almost a perfect game,” she said.
Hannah Tong threw a one-hit shutout for Forest Lake (22-3) against the Crimson (22-3), while Francie Gregor went 4 for 4 with three RBIs as the Rangers piled up 13 hits.
Different efforts are required throughout the two-day state tournament to reach the sport’s pinnacle. No one knows that better than Forest Lake, which will make its third title-game appearance in as many years on Friday.
The first of those three appearances ended in a title game loss to … Rosemount. Forest Lake lost that game 5-1, as it couldn’t solve the riddle that was Jessa Snippes, who will again be in the circle Friday for the Irish.
If Forest Lake has proven anything, it’s that it can indeed get to top-tier aces — the Gophers commit certainly falls in that category. The problem with Rosemount is the Irish are much more than just Snippes.
She was indeed excellent Thursday, allowing zero runs and five hits over 11 innings of work as Rosemount run-ruled Hopkins and fourth-seeded White Bear Lake.
Rosemount (25-0) downed the Bears 10-0 in six innings in the semifinal by tallying 13 hits against dominant Wichita State commit Chloe Barber. It’s the same number of hits Rosemount recorded against Hopkins’ ace Signe Dohse in that five-inning contest, another 10-0 Irish victory.
Snippes, Paige Zender and Kayla Bartol all went deep in the semifinal win, after Zender hit two homers in the quarterfinal victory while Bartol tacked on another.
Six Irish players recorded multi-hit performances against White Bear Lake. Five did so against Hopkins.
“I wouldn’t want to be the opposing pitcher. Because you’re going to have to go through a lineup, one through nine, and all of them can produce hits, all of them can produce runs,” Zender said. “I think that’s what’s super special about our team is that it’s not four or five girls, it’s all nine of us on the field, and our bench.”
Zender’s three blasts Thursday all came on Field 1 — the same field on which she went deep in the 2021 title-game victory over Forest Lake.
“I love this field. I remember playing on it in like 10U, 12U, so I don’t want to play on any other field here,” said Zender, an Iowa State commit who’s up to 14 home runs on the season. “I love it.”
Rosemount coach Tiffany Rose said Zender has been excellent all season, but ramps it up when it matters most. That appears to be true of everyone on the roster at the moment.
The Irish are simply clicking on all cylinders heading into a meeting of the last two Class 4A state champions.
“I mean, they’re good. They just are really rolling and everyone is feeling good,” Rose said of her team. “They’re just here to have fun with their friends, they’re here to wear that jersey, they’re here to be proud and they’re here to end their careers the best that they can do it. There’s zero nerves.”
