Photo by Jake McNeill: Wabasso third baseman Macy Rohlik celebrates after scoring a run during the Section 3A softball championship game against Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian on Thursday at the Marshall Softball Complex. Wabasso defeated the Dutchmen 5-1 to advance to the state tournament for the first time since 2010.

MARSHALL — For the first time since 2010, the Wabasso softball team is headed to the state tournament. The Rabbits battled their way through the elimination bracket to the Section 3A championship each of the last two years, falling to Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian in the final in 2023 and Russell-Tyler-Ruthton in 2024. This time around, the Rabbits came out of the winner’s bracket and jumped out to an early lead over Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian to claim a 5-1 win on Thursday at the Marshall Softball Complex.

“It’s surreal, honestly. It feels amazing,” Wabasso first baseman Alivia Olson, the lone senior on the roster, said. She added that coming out of the winner’s bracket this time and only needing one win instead of two in a row in the championship gave the team some added momentum. “Through all the ups and downs this season, I’m just really proud of us.”

The Rabbits will now prepare to head to their first state tournament since 2010, a year that came before some of the younger members of the team were born. The state quarterfinals will be played at Caswell Park in North Mankato on June 3 at 5:30 p.m.

“This was really fun. We believed in the girls all season. They’re solid and when we bring our game, bring our energy, we’re tough to beat,” Wabasso head coach Tiffany Eichten said. “We showed that today.”

Aylah Jenniges scored the go-ahead run for the Rabbits in the bottom of the first. She hit a fly ball into left field and reached first base safely when it was dropped. From there, she advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored when Sara Carlson lined a two-out single into center field.

Jenniges went the full seven innings for Wabasso in the circle, striking out five Dutchmen while giving up one earned run on six hits and three walks.

The Dutchmen strung together consecutive singles with two outs in the seventh, putting the tying run on deck, but Jenniges came up with a four-pitch strikeout to seal the win.

Macy Rohlik increased the Wabasso lead in the bottom of the third when she singled and scored on a Carlson double. A wild pitch and another Edgerton miscue in the field allowed Carlson to score from second, giving the Rabbits a three-run cushion.

“We just bring each other up and have a connection together as a team,” Aylah Jenniges said. “Not just sports-wise, but as a team overall, socially, we all get along and push each other to do our best. We know we’ve always wanted to go to state, so we had to push extra hard.”

Rohlik and Carlson led the Wabasso offense with two hits each on the day, including a double and two RBIs for Carlson and one RBI for Rohlik. Peyton Jenniges and Kayleigha Johnson accounted for Wabasso’s only other base hits, both singles.

The Rabbits played clean defense on the day, finishing without an error while Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian committed three. Camryn Irlbeck highlighted Wabasso’s defensive prowess in the fourth inning, showing off the vertical to make a leaping grab in center field for the inning’s first out.

“I think overall just getting hype for each other [helps us to perform defensively],” Aylah Jenniges said. “We always hype each other up. If someone makes a mistake, you just move on to the next one and we still have a lot of energy for each other.”

A Reagan Wahlof walk, a Kami Smit single and a Liona Bloemendaal bunt loaded the bases for the Dutchmen with one out in the top of the fourth. Presley Van Dyke hit a shallow sacrifice fly to second base to score Wahlof for Edgerton/s first run, but another pop out in the next at-bat got the Rabbits out of the jam with a two-run cushion still intact.

Van Dyke threw the full six innings for Edgerton, giving up four earned runs and one unearned run on six hits and a walk. She struck out seven batters on the day.

Peyton Jenniges led off the bottom of the fifth with a single and scored when Rohlik lined a two-out single into left field. Rohlik advanced to second on the throw home but Van Dyke induced a pop out to third to leave Rohlik stranded in scoring position.

In the sixth inning, Kayleigha Johnson beat out an infield single and scored when Delaina Eis reached base on an error at first with two outs, making the score 5-1.

Ready for the big stage

As a sophomore, Jenniges pitched 9 2/3 innings over the course of the season for the Rabbits, including 2 2/3 innings of relief in the second game of last year’s 3A championship against RTR. Following the graduation of Avery Carlson, Jenniges had to step into a new role as the team’s primary pitcher this season and saw her innings increase to 148 to date. She didn’t shy away from her first championship-level pitching experience as a starter.

“I was kind of trying to do my own thing. I’m not looking for a big pitching game, it’s more my defense that has my back,” Jenniges said. “My defense has my back, but I’m just going into it the same way that I always do: just pitching my pitches and knowing what I do.”

Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door

The Rabbits had been on the cusp of a state tournament berth each of the last two seasons. The Rabbits earned the No. 2 seed in the South bracket of the 2023 tournament, falling to Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 13-12 in the quarterfinals before downing Murray County Central, Russell-Tyler-Ruthton and KMS in the elimination bracket to get to the section final. Yet, there they lost 5-4 in game 1 to Edgerton/Southwest Christian.

A year later, the Rabbits earned the No. 3 seed in the South bracket, falling 2-1 to No. 2 Russell-Tyler-Ruthton. Again, the Rabbits battled through the elimination bracket with wins over Yellow Medicine East, Renville County West, Lac qui Parle Valley and Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian to return to the section final. They took a step closer to the state tournament, beating RTR 6-5 in the first game, but lost 11-1 in the deciding second game.

As such, this year was a revenge tour for the Rabbits. After earning the South bracket’s top seed, the Rabbits 11-1 in the first round of the tournament to avenge last year’s championship loss, defeated BOLD and Lac qui Parle Valley to head into the section final out of the winner’s bracket, and avenged their 2023 championship loss with a win over Edgerton/Southwest Christian in the 2025 final.

“I’m just excited to be there,” Olson, a member of the Rabbits’ last two runs to the section final, said of the state tournament. “I just want to have fun with my teammates one last time and I’m just excited to be there.”

Back to the mountaintop

From 1999 to 2010, Wabasso qualified for the state tournament six times and won the state tournament in 1999. They hadn’t been back since, with Edgerton/Southwest Minnesota Christian winning nine consecutive section titles from 2014 to 2023.

“Edgerton has been such a great team for numerous years, so it feels really good to play a great team like that and come out on top,” Eichten said.

The Rabbits’ appearance this year will mark its first appearance since Eichten took over a decade ago. She had coached the Rabbits to three section runner-up finishes prior to this season.

Up next

Wabasso awaits its seeding for the state tournament, with the bracket being announced on Saturday. The quarterfinals will be played at Caswell Park in North Mankato on Tuesday, June 3 at 5:30 p.m.

“We need to just keep playing our game, bring the energy like we’ve been bringing and do the little things,” Eichten said of the team’s approach to the game. “We need to have each other’s backs like we did today.”