Not one, not two, but three pens were put to paper inside Blooming Prairie High School’s gym to indicate three more Awesome Blossom seniors are on their way to playing sports in the collegiate ranks.
Macy Lembke signed to play NCAA Division III softball at Gustavus Adolphus College, while Gabe and Zack Hein stuck together to play JUCO basketball with Riverland Community College.
Lembke and the Hein twins took two completely different routes when it came to the process of deciding their future and what school was going to be the best fit for them.
For Lembke, she always favored Gustavus Adolphus College and when the opportunity to play softball with the Gusties came up, it was a no-brainer to select Gustavus as her next landing spot.
“It was mostly Gustavus, I’d always really liked the college even if I weren’t to play softball there,” Lembke said. “I like that it’s a small college in a small town and the campus is very homey. I just felt at home (there).”
Another decision for Lembke that turned out to be a relatively easy decision to make was narrowing down which sport to pursue.
The Blooming Prairie senior has racked up the All-Conference selections as a three-sport athlete with the Blossoms. A setter with volleyball during the fall, starting point guard with basketball during the winter and now a returning infielder and pitcher with softball for the spring.
Volleyball was also in consideration over the years, but around her sophomore season, she knew softball was what she wanted to pursue.
Softball made a lot of sense for one of BP’s leaders on the diamond. Lembke is coming off a junior season that saw her be named as a Class AA All-State Honorable Mention, along with All-Conference, after batting for a .539 batting average with 18 RBIs, six doubles, a triple and 33 runs. She also recorded 36 stolen bases, which ranks second in school history.
In her senior season, Lembke has played a big role in helping the Awesome Blossoms jump out to a 7-1 record to open the 2024 season. The former shortstop made the move into the circle and has served as Blooming Prairie’s ace and leadoff batter over that stretch.
“I’ve always wanted to play college [sports] growing up,” Lembke said. “Especially the past few years it’s been softball, so it’s super exciting to know that it’s a for-sure thing.”
On the other hand, Gabe and Zack Hein had their sights set on basketball, but looked at several different options at various levels of collegiate basketball.
The Hein twins didn’t initially plan on playing as a tandem at the collegiate level. But when they both took Riverland into consideration with the chance to still play together, not be far from home and playing on a great Blue Devils team, it also became an easy decision.
Riverland getting one commitment from the Hein boys is big, but landing both will bring plenty of joy to the Blue Devils program.
“We had talked to a couple of [Division III programs], had a little bit of Division II look and another JUCO,” Gabe Hein said. “But we thought this was probably the best option for us to expand how we were going to play. Obviously, [Riverland]’s not too far away, so that’s a big aspect, and then they’re good, really good.”
Gabe and Zack dominated the Gopher Conference and helped lead the Awesome Blossoms to one of, if not the greatest, season in school history. The Blossoms finished an outstanding 28-3 overall, with a 14-1 record against Gopher Conference teams and a Gopher Conference title.
On top of that, Gabe and Zack both broke the schools single game scoring record and surpassed 1,00 career points each. Gabe initially broke the record with 49 points to open the year and Zack broke his brother’s record with 50 points later in the season. Zack also holds school records for single game 3-pointers made with 10 and career 3-pointers made with 172.
Gabe was named as the Gopher Conference Player of the Year after averaging 22.3 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.7 blocks per game. Zack was a Second Team All-Conference selection with 16.3 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.
“It’s really exciting to take that next step,” Zack Hein said. “We know that we’re going to need to work extremely hard, even at the next level, to try and compete there. It’s exciting.”
Along with the signings being a special moment for Lembke, the Heins and both of their families, it was also pretty special for coach Cam Rutledge, who had the chance to be the head coach for all three signing Blossoms.
Rutledge has been the head coach for boys basketball for the past three seasons and just started his third year as the head coach for softball. In the cases of the Hein twins and Lembke, he’s gotten to see their progression to becoming the players they are now.
“I’m very proud,” Rutledge said. “All three of them put in a ton of time to get to this point. All three of them are very big reasons why we’ve had successful seasons. I’m just happy for those three seeing their hard work pay off.”
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