Cannon Falls Bomber softball looks to take the next step after going 17-7 overall last season and 2-2 in the Section 1AA playoffs. Heading into this spring, the Bombers return much of last year\u2019s squad and head coach Adam Templin said the goal is to compete at the top of the Hiawatha Valley League and their new section, 2AA.<\/p>\n
While the Bombers graduated a handful of starters from last year\u2019s team such as center fielder Anna Ritz, first baseman Avery Rustad and second baseman Chloe Sjoquist, they return much of last year\u2019s team and have even had a surge of players come out who had stepped away from the game for a few years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got a few kids back who weren\u2019t part of the program last year, and a couple of them haven\u2019t played softball in two or three years. We have some really athletic girls back in the program, so just kind of seeing how fast things come back to them,\u201d Templin said. \u201cAnd then we also have a pretty strong freshman class who has some talent. I think I\u2019ve got a pretty large roster of kids who have potential to see varsity time, so who\u2019s going to rise to the top and I think it\u2019s going to take a little while to see where that lands.\u201d<\/p>\n
With all those new players, and the versatility of the returners, the coaching staff have had the girls moving positions a lot early on and the lineup has been somewhat fluid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just kind of shifted everybody around. We truly just have a lot of athletes and several of them can play in more than one spot,\u201d Templin explained. \u201cYou look at the beginning of the year and you see center field and second base and first base, but there\u2019s girls who played other spots last year that could easily fill those spots to have those spots to have a girl play somewhere else. Practice to start the season, we\u2019ve had a lot of kids moving around.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Josie Sjoquist is one of several key returners for a Cannon Falls softball team that brings back most of last year’s squad. Alec Hamilton \/ Cannon Falls Beacon<\/p>\n
Ally Pagel will once again carry the load for Cannon Falls inside the circle, Pitching, along with athleticism, will be the Bombers\u2019 strength this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor sure pitching. Ally is just shy of 400 career strikeouts, she\u2019s already in the record book in multiple categories in second and third place, and has the chance to get herself into first place in a couple spots. She\u2019s going to be a three-year starter,\u201d Templin explained. \u2018Mya Menge behind the plate, she\u2019s probably arguably one of the best catchers in the state for sure for her age and I would argue just in general. \u2026 We have Emma (Templin) up the middle as a third-year returner as a shortstop even though she\u2019s a sophomore. Our outfield is going to be fast and we have some strong arms, so I\u2019m excited about that too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emma Templin will supplement Pagel at pitcher along with freshman Aubrey Litschke, who Adam said will also have the opportunity to play first base and in the outfield. He also said they will focus more on hitting this season after really concentrating on defense last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cannon Falls was able to add a handful of Section 2AA teams to their schedule including a tournament in Fairmont where they will play the Cardinals and Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial. They\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried to get as many of the top teams as we could (from Section 2AA) and then we kept all the top teams we played last year in Section 1AA, so our schedule is going to be considerably harder than last year,\u201d Adam said.<\/p>\n
Team captains this spring are Pagel, Josie Sjoquist and Emma Templin.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Bombers opened their season at Lake City Thursday, March 26, when they fell to the Tigers 4-2. The game was scoreless until the top of the fourth inning when Cannon Falls struck first on an RBI-double by Dana Barsness which scored Litschke. Lake City tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth before the Bombers retook the lead with another run in the top of the sixth. It was once again Barsness who grounded out but brought in Claire Meyers to make it 2-1. However, the Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the sixth for the 4-2 final.<\/p>\n
Pagel took the loss in the circle after going six innings and allowing four runs (none earned, the Bombers committed three errors) on five hits and a walk with five strikeouts. Cannon Falls managed just two hits, one apiece from Meyers and Barsness while Barsness drove in both of the team\u2019s runs. Litschke drew a pair of walks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cannon Falls travels to St. James Area on Thursday, April 2, and then holds its home opener on Tuesday, April 7, against Zumbrota-Mazeppa.<\/p>\n
Thursday, April 2, at St. James Area \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, April 7, vs. Zumbrota-Mazeppa \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Thursday, April 9, vs. Maple River \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Monday, April 13, vs. Northfield \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, April 14, at Pine Island \u2013 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
Thursday, April 16, vs. Rochester Lourdes \u2013 5 p.m.<\/p>\n
Monday, April 20, at St. Charles \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, April 21, at Stewartville \u2013 5 p.m.<\/p>\n
Thursday, April 23, vs. Dover-Eyota \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Saturday, April 25, at Fairmont Tournament vs. Fairmont & Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial \u2013 noon and 2:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Monday, April 27, at Belle Plaine \u2013 6 p.m.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, April 28, vs. Byron \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Thursday, April 30, at Goodhue \u2013 5 p.m.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, May 5, at Randolph \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Friday, May 8, vs. Cotter \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Saturday, May 9, at Kasson-Mantorville Tournament vs. Proctor & WEM \u2013 10:45 a.m. & 2 p.m.<\/p>\n
Tuesday, May 12, vs. K-M \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Thursday, May 14, vs. Tri-City United \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n
Friday, May 15, vs. Caledonia \u2013 4:30 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cannon Falls Bomber softball looks to take the next step after going 17-7 overall last season and 2-2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2288],"tags":[2315,2309,5,2316,2314,2317,2313,2325,2413,3648,19,2310,2328,2304,2318,2308,2319,4,2305,2303,2307,2320,2327,2321,1210,185,2311,2312,1039],"class_list":{"0":"post-659114","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb-postseason","8":"tag-athletic-sports","9":"tag-ball-and-bat-games","10":"tag-baseball","11":"tag-baseball-competitions","12":"tag-baseball-finals","13":"tag-baseball-games","14":"tag-baseball-playoffs-and-champions","15":"tag-baseball-teams","16":"tag-champion-seasons-in-major-league-baseball","17":"tag-first-baseman","18":"tag-major-league-baseball","19":"tag-major-league-baseball-competitions","20":"tag-major-league-baseball-playoffs","21":"tag-major-league-baseball-postseason","22":"tag-major-league-baseball-seasons","23":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams","24":"tag-major-league-baseball-teams-seasons","25":"tag-mlb","26":"tag-mlb-playoffs","27":"tag-mlb-postseason","28":"tag-outdoor-sports","29":"tag-pitcher","30":"tag-seasons-in-american-sport","31":"tag-seasons-in-baseball","32":"tag-softball","33":"tag-sports","34":"tag-team-sports","35":"tag-turf-sports","36":"tag-world-series"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}