Photo courtesy of Brian Bjella The Marshall 18U fastpitch softball team won the Minnesota tier 3 state championship on Sunday. Front row (left to right): Payton Swanson, Skyla Crowley, Jayda Bednarek, Sara Dallman, Naya Grahn. Back row: Coach Ryan Baedke, Mackenzie Olsen, Harley Beek, Claire Allen, Alyssa Moen, Jaina Dekker, Justine Kirst, Halla Cassavan, Morgan Bjella, Coach Stacey Baedke.

SHOREVIEW — Despite being bumped down to the elimination bracket of the Minnesota Tier 3 state tournament in its first game of the day on Sunday, the Marshall 18U softball team rattled off five straight wins to cap off its season with a championship.

“That was the goal, to go in and win the tournament,” Marshall head coach Stacey Baedke said, adding that the team was placed in tier three a year after finishing as the tier one runner-ups. “I think they were a bit surprised by that, so I was just like, ‘alright, well let’s go in and win the tournament then,’ and that’s what they did.”

After going 3-0 on the first day of the tournament with a cumulative run differential of 29-0 against Oakdale, Central Raiders and Hastings, Marshall was riding high heading into day two of the tournament. Yet, MN Misfits handed the Tigers a 1-0 loss to halt the Marshall momentum. Morgan Bjella pitched the full game with no earned runs allowed, but a fourth-inning passed ball allowed the Misfits to capitalize and ended up being the difference in the game.

That wasn’t the last chance Marshall would get to beat the Misfits, however. The Tigers defeated the Central Raiders 6-1, the St. Cloud Gamblers 4-1 and the St. Anthony Huskies 7-2 to set up a rematch against the Misfits in the championship game. The Misfits were still undefeated, so they needed just one win to clinch while Marshall needed two. Still, the team remained unintimidated.

“We have our pregame talks, and from the sounds of it, they were like, ‘we did not play all day to get to the championship and lose. That was the motivation,” Baedke said.

The rematch featured the same pitching matchup from the morning’s game, with Bjella starting in the circle for Marshall and Mady Wachal starting for the Misfits. Wachal threw hard and pounded the strike zone, Baedke said, but Marshall was able to make some adjustments over the course of the game.

The Misfits scored a pair of runs in the second inning. A leadoff double put a runner in scoring position and a fielder’s choice put the Misfits on the board. After a single gave the Misfits a 2-0 lead, Bjella returned to the circle after being relieved for 1/3 inning and promptly induced a pop out and a strikeout to end the inning. Bjella finished the game with 5 2/3 scoreless innings pitched, holding the Misfits to three hits and two walks while striking out eight batters.

Marshall first got on the board in the top of the fifth inning when Halla Jo Casavan walked to start the inning and Jaina Dekker doubled to put runners on second and third with one out. Harley Beek grounded into a fielder’s choice to score Casavan. All runners reached safely, putting Beek and Dekker on the corners with one out. Yet, a strikeout and a pop out ended the inning with Marshall still trailing by a run.

In the sixth inning, a fly out and ground out to start the inning put Marshall one out away from elimination. Yet, Claire Allen singled and Mackenzie Olsen was hit by a pitch to put the go-ahead run on fist base. Casavan was walked to load up the bases when Dekker came up to the plate.

With the game on the line, Dekker didn’t disappoint; she singled to right field, scoring Saraj Dallman — who was pinch running for Allen — and Olsen to put Marshall on top, 3-2.

“We go through the lineup one time and we struggled that first time. We had a talk after they came in from defense and said, ‘alright, you’ve been through the lineup once, now it’s time to make adjustments,” Baedke said. “Let’s choke up a little bit. Move back in the box.

“We don’t have to kill it. We’re not going for home runs here, we’re just going for base hits, getting the bat on the ball and do what you can to make their defense work… they’re very coachable and they just have that drive to win.”

Still, the Misfits had one last chance to avoid a winner-take-all second game. Hadley Wachal doubled to start off the inning and, after a ground out, an error put the tying run on third base. Yet, Bjella locked in and struck out the next two batters to secure the game one win.

“Our pitchers were on point. We played against that first team and we ended up scoring [17] runs right there and no errors in the shutout. There was maybe two hits between the two pitchers [Bjella and Beek], so I would say majority of it was just our pitchers throwing very well, but also our defense came up when we needed them to and it was just an all-around great effort by our whole team.”

Over the course of the two-day tournament, Bjella pitched 31 innings and threw 400 pitches. She allowed two earned runs over that time for an ERA of 0.452 and struck out 56 batters.

Beek threw 17 1/3 innings, allowing five earned runs while striking out 13 batters and allowing just 13 hits and compiling a 2.02 ERA.

Bjella also started the championship game against the Misfits, throwing the full six innings and allowing two runs on four hits with six strikeouts. Both of the two runs she allowed came in the first inning.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first, the Misfits got a double and a single to start the day. A sacrifice fly scored the Misfits’ first run and an error followed by an RBI ground out scored the second to put Marshall down 2-1.

The Tigers didn’t trail for long. Dekker hit a single, sandwiched between a pop out and a ground out, to put her on third base with two outs. Justine Kirst singled to drive in Dekker to tie up the game at two runs apiece. From there, Naya Grahn was hit by a pitch to put two runners on to set the table for Bjella.

While a single may have been enough to drive in the go-ahead run, Bjella went above and beyond, hitting her first career home run to center field to put the Tigers up 5-2. Bjella also hit a double later in the game.

Marshall capped off the game’s scoring in the fourth inning. Dekker drew a leadoff walk and Kirst singled to put runners on the corners. With two outs, the Misfits decided to play it safe and walk Bjella to load the bases. That didn’t stop Marshall from scoring, though, as Jayda Bednarek drew a walk to force in another run and put the Tigers up 6-2. The walk gave Bednarek her seventh RBI of the tournament, second only to Bjella’s eight

Hadley Wachal started the second game for the Misfits, going the full six innings and striking out nine batters.

Marshall’s offense fired on all cylinders throughout the tournament. The team had six batters with an OPS over 8.00, lead by Bjella at 1.170, Dekker at 1.060 and Casavan at 1.000. Also notable, Olsen had a pair of doubles while Beek had a triple and six RBIs in the tournament.

“It was an all-around team effort. We played six games [Sunday]… we had the same lineup through the whole day, but we had girls on the bench and we wouldn’t have done it without them there too,” Baedke said. “With their cheering, their support and just knowing their roles and everybody did across the board. They all contributed in some way.”

Marshall finishes its season with a record of 32-5-2.