Last year I don’t think we were prepared enough mentally. We thought we could just walk in and win and we weren’t mentally prepared. This year I think we came in really mentally prepared for the game.”

Allyson Grobner

Last year’s loss to Rosemount avenged, it’s on to the Section 3 championship softball finals for the surging Park Wolfpack.

Ninth-ranked Park will play the winner of the Apple Valley-Rosemount game Wednesday at M-Health Fairview Sports Complex, field 7. The first game is set to start at 3 p.m. If the Wolfpack wins the first game, they’re off to state. If a second game is needed, the start time would be 5 p.m.

Park (20-4) needs only to win one of the next two games to return to state for the first time since 2018. The Wolfpack already have section wins against both of the other contenders.

“It’s exciting for these girls,” said Park head coach Tony Young. “They’ve worked hard. They’ve been in the program for – the three you just talked to – for four years and their hard work is paying off. They’ve turned into great leaders and just doing the right things that help set the table with the rest of them.”

“We had to learn how to compete at this level,” Young continued. “Not let the moment get too big. And we’re still working on that. We play on Wednesday and we’re going to practice Monday, Tuesday and be ready for whoever comes back on that backside. We’re going to be ready to go.”

The Wolfpack have 15 appearances in the Minnesota state softball tournament, including a state championship in 1993 and runner-up finishes in 1992, 1999, 2002 and 2018.

In Thursday’s elimination games, second seeded Eastview smashed fourth-seeded Two Rivers 14-3 and fifth-seeded Apple Valley downed seventh-seeded Eagan 6-2. Then on Friday, Apple Valley upset Eastview 10-2.

Apple Valley (17-7) and Rosemount (14-9) played Tuesday in the elimination bracket finals with the winners advancing to the section finals.

Ninth-ranked Park got everything it needed and more Friday at M-Health Fairview Sports Complex field 10 – solid pitching, lots of timely hitting and plenty of defense in a satisfying 10-4 victory.

Senior catcher Alayna Adamez hit her 16th home run of the season and drove in four runs to lead Park offensively. Softball stats are not always reported to the MN Softball Hub, but Adamez may very well lead the state in homers this spring.

“I’m seeing the ball well and being confident in the box,” said Adamez. “No two home runs today, but just one.”

Senior Allyson Grobner went 3-for-4 with a double and four RBIs. Park got hits up and down the lineup to keep the Irish off balance. The Wolfpack had 12 hits, nine RBIs, three walks and just three strikeouts.

Park’s senior players well remember the section battles against Rosemount from a year ago.

“Last year I don’t think we were prepared enough mentally,” said Grobner. “We thought we could just walk in and win and we weren’t mentally prepared. This year I think we came in really mentally prepared for the game.

“I think we all strung hits together very well tonight,” Grobner added. “And we all picked each other up when anything happened.”

While the Park batters were doing their thing, senior pitcher Ava Youngquist and the Wolfpack defense were in control most of the game until a bit of a shaky finish.

Asked if she got nervous in the seventh when the Irish mounted a bit of a rally, Youngquist said “A little bit but I feel like I had faith in our defense. We struggled a bit in the beginning, but I feel when it came down to that I trust everybody on that field.

“I think we can’t let the moment be too big like coach Tony always says,” Youngquist added. “We have to just get one out at a time and I think we can very much win this.”

Park and Rosemount of course have a recent history. In last season’s sections, Park defeated Rosemount 7-4 in the quarterfinals, then lost back-to-back heartbreakers, first to Eagan 1-0 in the section semifinals and then to Rosemount 4-3 in the elimination bracket final. In that game Rosemount jumped out to a 4-1 lead after one inning. Park battled back but fell just short in catching the Irish. Eagan then won the section championship 8-3 over Rosemount to advance to state.

Suburban East Conference rolling

Third-ranked Forest Lake (Section 7) plays Thursday for a Section 7 title, while in Section 4, No. 11 Stillwater met unranked Woodbury Tuesday for the crown. Forest Lake and White Bear Lake played in last year’s state tournament and the conference is likely to have at least that many teams qualify this season.

Park 5, Apple Valley 0

The Wolfpack scored a 5-0 shutout of visiting Apple Valley Wednesday in the Class 4A, Section 3 Championship bracket quarterfinals.

Alayna Adamez was 1-for-2 with a home run, Allyson Grobner went 1-for-2 and drove in two runs. Addison Jasper went 3-for-4, Kennedy Brink and Maddie Boothe were both 1-for-3 with a double each.

Third-seeded Rosemount topped second-seeded Eastview 8-3 in Wednesday’s other championship quarterfinal.

In elimination bracket games Wednesday, fourth-seeded Two Rivers edged eighth-seeded Burnsville 6-5 and seventh-seeded Eagan blanked sixth-seeded East Ridge 4-0 to stay alive in the tournament.