SECTION RESULTS Championship Bracket Owatonna (4) beats Farmington (1), 4-3 New Prague (2) beats Rochester Century (6), 1-0 Elimination Bracket Lakeville North (5) eliminates Rochester JM (8), 15-0 Lakeville North (5) eliminates Rochester Century (6), 5-4 (F/10) Lakeville South (3) eliminates Rochester Mayo (7), 3-0 Farmington (1) eliminates Lakeville South (3), 11-1 a63d6ae5-dd3f-4461-9c94-371ec35a81e6
For the second straight year, the Owatonna Huskies are in the Section 1AAAA semifinals and just one step away from reaching the section title game.
But unlike last season, where the then-No. 2 seeded Huskies battled through No. 7 Rochester Mayo and No. 6 Rochester Century to make it, the 2024 No. 4 seeded Huskies reached the semifinals by knocking off reigning champs and No. 1 seeded Farmington in a 4-3 victory on Thursday.
“Defense and pitching were outstanding today,” said head coach Jeremy Moran. “Kennedy really battled in the circle.Our outfield was aggressive all game and the infield made all the plays tonight.Great team effort and win.”
The Tigers aren’t just one of the top teams in the section, they’re also ranked as one of the best teams in all of Class AAAA softball. Farmington checked in as Class AAAA’s No. 1 ranked team in the Minnesota Fastpitch Coaches’ Association’s May 16th rankings.
Farmington lost just three games all season before the Huskies and all three of the prior losses were against top ranked teams. Class AAAA No. 2 Rosemount and No. 3 Shakopee, along with a familiar foe in Class AAA No. 7 Mankato East, all recorded close victories over the Tigers.
If Owatonna’s third inning against Lakeville North during the opening round of Section 1AAAA play wasn’t a warning to the rest of the section, senior second baseman Izzy Radel slugging a leadoff solo home run against the 2023 Class AAAA consolation runner-ups certainly did.
Radel’s leadoff homer gave the Huskies a 1-0 lead and they never surrendered that lead for the remainder of the game.
Kendra Bogen and Samantha Bogen helped the Huskies take a brief 2-0 lead in the top of the third after Kendra singled on a near-perfect bunt and eventually got driven in off Samantha’s sac fly to right field.
The top-seeded Tigers were going to go down without a fight and pulled things back within one run in the bottom of the inning with an RBI double.
Radel and Kendra Bogen got the Huskies going with back-to-back singles in the top of the fifth. Senior third baseman Zoie Roush drove Radel in on an RBI double, which was immediately followed by Sam bringing Kendra in with an RBI grounder for a 4-1 lead.
Farmington strung together back-to-back RBI knocks of its own in the bottom of the inning to keep it within one run. But thanks to some good pitching from Owatonna’s ace Kennedy Hodgman and a strong defense backing her, the Huskies sent the Tigers into the elimination bracket.
Radel, Roush and Kendra Bogen all recorded two hits each and Preslee Hodgman recorded one hit. Samantha Bogen recorded two RBIs, while Radel and Roush recorded one RBI each. Kennedy Hodgman tossed all seven innings and recorded two strikeouts.
Not only are the Huskies presented a chance to reach the Section 1AAAA title game through the championship bracket, but they’re also getting a chance to extract some revenge in the process with their semifinals match with New Prague.
The No. 2 seeded Trojans were just the second visiting team to ever play at Federated Park and they shut the Huskies out in a 7-0 Owatonna loss. Now the two will rematch with a trip to the section championship game on the line.
The threat of Farmington is still very much alive for either Owatonna or New Prague following a strong 11-1 Tiger victory over No. 3 Lakeville South in the elimination bracket. Farmington battled back from elimination play to win the 2023 section title as the No. 1 seed last year.
No. 4 Owatonna and No. 2 New Prague will meet in the championship semifinals at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at Austin’s Todd Park Field No. 5. The loser will play in the elimination bracket finals for a second chance at the section title game immediately following at 6 p.m.
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