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A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Panthers pitcher Malania Madill gets a hug from teammate Natalie Smith after South Ridge won the championship game on a two-out single in the bottom of the seventh that sent Smith home with the game-winning run.
Patty Young claps after one of her three granddaughters - two playing for South Ridge and one for Cherry - batted during the Section 7A championship game Thursday at Braun Park in Cloquet. One of those granddaughters, Alana Young, got the game-winning single for South Ridge.
South Ridge first baseman Shayna Preston concentrates on the ball before getting an out against Cherry's Aliisa Mayry.
For a season threatened by no head softball coach until a few days before the start of spring practice, having Roger Plachta appears to have been the perfect choice. The former University of Wisconsin- Superior softball coach and his players surprised everyone in the 7A playoffs. First they defeated favored Carlton, then they knocked off Cherry 1-0 in Thursday's Section 7A championship game at Braun Park in Cloquet.
Plachta and the Panthers head to North Mankato this week to play in the school's first girls state softball tournament.
It was a pitcher's duel throughout the contest Thursday, with no scoring until the seventh inning, when Alana Young's two-out single in the bottom of the seventh scored Natalie Smith for the game-winner.
Plachta said he knew South Ridge had some talent to work with this year, but making it to the state tournament was more than he could have imagined.
It was a nailbiter of a game for fans, especially Patty Young, grandmother to Alana and her younger sister Rylee for the Panthers, but also grandmother to Cherry senior Paige Chadwick.
Young was tucked into a camp chair next to the Panther dugout.
She cheered for her grandkids whenever they batted or excelled on the field, trying to not play favorites. Whatever happened would be a good thing, she said. So when Alana hit that last single, you can bet her grandmother was cheering.
The Panthers' Malania Madill continued her dominance on the pitcher's mound as she threw her fifth shutout of the tournament.
"Madill was the one player I knew on this team when I got the job," Plachta said. "I was recruiting her for UWS so I had seen her for a while and I knew what she can do, and she did just that."
The Panthers, who could muster only three hits in the championship game, saw two of the most important hits come in the bottom of the seventh inning.
"[Cherry pitcher Lauren Staples] was very good on the mound," Plachta said. "We struggled against her - just couldn't get anything we could take advantage of until we had those two hits in the seventh."
South Ridge will play its first game in the Class A state tournament at 1 p.m. Thursday, June 6, against two-time defending state champion New York Mills at Caswell Park in North Mankato.
This is the first state softball tournament appearance in the short existence of South Ridge High School, although it's not Plachta's first trip to the show.
"This is beyond my highest hopes for the season," Plachta said. "I coached at Esko when we won the state title, but now this seems like it is all so new to me again. It's like going home again."
