NORTH MANKATO — Mankato East’s quest to become the first team in state tournament history to win three straight titles came to an end Wednesday night when Rocori downed the Cougars 2-0 in a Class AAA semifinal clash at Caswell Park.
East, which defeated Simley 4-1 in a quarterfinal game earlier in the day, managed only three hits off Spartans’ right-hander Jordan Illies, who earlier in the day pitched 14 innings in a 2-1 quarterfinal win over Becker. Illies struck out one and walked five as Rocori improved to 19-5 on the season.
“We were hitting it right at people,” East pitcher Kylinn Stangl said. “This isn’t what we wanted so we’ll have to get after it tomorrow. They’re a gritty team and I threw one inside and she turned on it. Our team has come back before but they had it today and we just didn’t. We’re still going to go home with some hardware so we’re going to get third place.
“We always pick each other up and we’re a big family that plays for each other. We weren’t smart with our bats and when we did make contact they were right at people. We just didn’t adjust like we should have.”
Stangl, who worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the top of the first, struck out 10 and walked two in losing a three-hitter in the semifinals. East (21-5) left the bases juiced in its first at bat after senior center fielder Maddy Beaty’s bunt single, an outfield error and a walk to senior third baseman Jayda Swalve produced the threat. However Illies got the final out before turning back a threat in the third and finishing by setting down 10 of the final 11 Cougar hitters.
“We did not hit the ball well in either game today,” East coach Joe Madson said. “Kylinn pitched two tremendous games to keep us in the hunt but you have to move the ball better than we did. We hit too many lazy fly balls in both games. You can’t hang your heads. We’ve got another game and ending the year with a win is certainly important, so we’ll have to gather ourselves and show a little toughness.
“Give their pitcher credit. She changed speeds and kept it up in the zone. We didn’t pick her up very well and didn’t get the bat on the ball solidly. There were a lot of teams here today that were favored and didn’t get the job done. … I am proud of these kids and we’ve still got one more game to get.”
Rocori scored its two runs in the fifth frame when a one-out walk set up catcher Sophia Hess’ two-run homer down the left-field line.
“We had nothing to lose so we came into the game with a lot of energy and ready to have fun,” Hess said. “It worked out in our favor. The home run … all of a sudden it just went over. I was running the bases when I saw everyone reacting. It was inside but I don’t know what kind of pitch it was. We had that long first game so just not making mistakes was our gig.”
Beaty, Swalve and freshman catcher Harper Stangl had the Cougars’ hits.
“We kind of lost our momentum,” Beaty said. “We just couldn’t put the ball in play and move the runners when we had a chance to. We’ll be working on our short game and moving the ball tomorrow. I couldn’t be more proud of this team and we’re going to come out tomorrow and get third place. This is a great environment and the chemistry we’ve developed is so special. …. Having this community behind us and supporting us is great.”
Kylinn Stangl struck out eight and walked none in the Cougars’ win over Simley. Swalve belted an RBI double and junior shortstop Emily Hacker laced a run-scoring single while Harper Stangl and Ella Hudspith drove in runs with sacrifice fly balls.
East takes on Chisago Lakes at 12:30 p.m. Thursday at Caswell.