Wadena-Deer Creek Softball Firing on All Cylinders Ahead of Sections

This year, Wadena-Deer Creek softball has finished their regular season 18-2, their best finish in over 20 years. They opened the season with a seven-game-winning streak before closing on a nine-gamer en route to their first Park Region Conference title since 2009, earning them a first-round bye in the Section 8AA tourney.

Defense has been quite the catalyst for the Wolverines.

“I think we’ve made a lot of difficult plays, but also the plays that, you know, you might mess up or might make an error,” said pitcher/first base player Montana Carsten. “We have made them and even if we do, we bounce back from them and make the next one right away.”

And that’s enabling the pitching staff to be the best version of themselves.

“Me and Tana have really kind of taken it under our wings and we, like I said earlier, we just trust our defense behind us and we throw strikes and we know that if one of us has a bad day in the circle, the next one will come back in and pick us up,” explained pitcher/first base player Jenna Dykhoff.

But the bats are making the biggest difference this year for the Wolverines, as the girls have put crooked numbers on the board all season, scoring 10 or more runs in over half their games.

“We’re just swinging at what we should be swinging at, not swinging what we shouldn’t be swinging at,” said Addi Carr on second base. “You know, really smart, I would say. Once we get a couple swings and get a couple of hits, it just keeps going down the lineup and just keeps going through everyone.”

And they’ll need that presence at the plate as the girls have Barnesville next, who’ve gotten the better of them in the playoffs the last two years.

“They’re ready for some revenge. And yeah, we lost out, our first loss was at Barnesville, which is a heartbreaker, and then a 2-1 loss to Breckenridge to eliminate us,” added Dykhoff. “Everybody’s returning except a few key seniors. But yeah, we’re young and we’re still young, and we’re just, we’re ready. We’re ready for it.”

But the Wolverines believe translating their regular season performance and keeping the same mindset can ultimately lead to a deep run.

“I would say keep our bats going and keep playing the defense we have been playing and keep playing as one team,” stated shortstop Jada Dykhoff. “Next play mentality. When we make one mistake, next play has to be there.”

The Wolverines’ only two losses came in split series against Parkers Prairie and Bertha-Hewitt/Verndale, meaning they beat everyone on their schedule at least once. On Thursday, they take on Barnesville in the Section 8AA subsection semifinal.

The winner of the semifinal plays the winner of Menahga versus Park Rapids immediately after, and the loser moves to the elimination bracket. All those games will be played at Menahga High School.