Park wrapped up the regular season with a split decision on the road against ranked softball teams in Winona Friday.

The Wolfpack dropped a wild 15-11 decision to Winona Cotter (19-1), ranked third in Class 2A, then topped Winona (15-5), ranked sixth in Class 3A, in a 4-1 victory.

“We definitely fought to the end against a very talented Winona Cotter team,” said Park coach Bob Loshek. “We had the tying run at the plate at the end and just couldn’t push it across. But when you dig yourself a deep hole, it’s tough to climb out of sometimes.

“The last couple of innings of game one gave us some much needed confidence and momentum heading into a tough game with a top ranked opponent in Winona High,” Loshek added. “We got out ahead early, had strong pitching and played a much better game defensively. Those are the key components to competing in any game, and we did all three of those things in the second game today.”

Friday’s split gives Park a 10-10 regular season record.

Park now moves to Section 3AAAA play where the Wolfpack will host Hastings (106) in a quarterfinal game Tuesday, June 1, starting at 4:30 p.m. The Raiders come in red-hot, having won their last five games and averaging 10 runs a contest.

On Wednesday, May 26, the Wolfpack wrapped up the Suburban East Conference season the way they started — with a convincing win over a conference foe.

Park opened the SEC season with a 13-1 win over Cretin-Derham Hall on the road and closed it Wednesday with a 14-2 win over host Roseville at the Fairview Softball Complex.

In between it was rather a wild ride for this sophomore-dominated team. Park – with just one senior and one junior on the roster — struggled with the big three of the conference this season – Stillwater, Forest Lake and White Bear Lake. But the Wolfpack fared even or better against the rest of the league.

Wednesday was one of those games where the Wolfpack looked strong all around in a 12-2 win over host Roseville. Park had pitching, defense and lots of hitting, if the hitting wasn’t exactly bunched together until the last couple of innings. The game was rescheduled from May 21 because of a wet field.

Park scored twice in the first inning, made it a 3-0 game in the third, 4-0 after four and then added six runs in the decisive fifth inning to finally pull away.

The Wolfpack had a monster day at the plate, belting out 21 hits, led by a monster game from sophomore catcher Bryleigh Dana. Dana went 5-for-5 at the plate with two doubles three singles, an RBI and scored twice.

Corinna Loshek, Gracie Bond and Autumn Degler each had three singles.

“I think we did pretty good,” said sophomore pitcher Skyler Croker. “I think our defense was definitely there. Our offense was a little slower, a little more stretched out in the innings but we definitely had some good hits when we put it together.

“I think we’ve definitely gotten better through the season and hopefully we just keep doing good in sections,” Croker added.

Park finishes 9-9 in the Suburban East Conference, good for a tie for fourth place with East Ridge. No. 1 Stillwater (17-1, 191), No. 6 Forest Lake (16-2, 16-3) and No. 10 White Bear Lake (14-4, 15-5) finished first through third in the SEC this season.

“It was a fun game for our girls to see and to play and a good win heading into sections,” said Park head coach Bob Loshek.

Roseville remained winless in the conference (0-18) and on the season (0-19). The Raiders had a tough season, losing 14 of 19 games by double digits.

Skyler Crocker of Park comes into home to score a run for the Wolfpack in the sixth inning against Roseville. Photo by John Molene

Park head coach Bob Loshek shares a smile with sophomore Juliana Field as she reaches third base against Roseville. Photo by John Molene