DETROIT LAKES

— The final chapter of the Detroit Lakes softball team’s 2024 season closed in their elimination bracket loss to No. 7 Willmar at Snappy Park.

The Thursday contest ended with the Cardinals (2-20) trouncing the Lakers 17-4 in five innings and living to see another day. Willmar put up 11 runs in the opening frame and Detroit Lakes was forced to play from behind right from the jump.

“A couple of errors in the first inning really killed us,” head coach Emma Mejia said. “We gave up too many runs. Pitching, we did as well as we could today but just gave up a few too many hits today.”

Madi Norsten launched a grand slam in the top of the first after the first five Willmar batters reached base. The Lakers managed to get their first out seven batters but the Cardinals were ahead 7-0. After the second out of the opening frame, Hannah Magnuson hit a two-out, three-run bomb and Willmar led 9-0.

Detroit Lakes’ Sidney Borgmann was called off the mound after nine runs, two walks and seven hits in two-thirds innings pitched. Amelia May came in for relief and got the final out but the Lakers trailed 11-0 after a half-inning of play.

The Cardinals tacked on one run in the second and five more runs in the top of the third. Willmar ended the afternoon with 17 hits and 16 RBIs.

“You got to give some credit to Willmar,” Borgmann said. “I mean, they really hit the crap out of the ball. I think we really needed to cut down on errors but we just couldn’t pull it out today for some reason.”

Detroit Lakes made a comeback attempt with two runs in the second and third innings but it was too little too late. The Lakers managed to secure five hits but had zero RBIs. Detroit Lakes sent three pitchers to the mound with hopes of slowing down the Cardinals.

Shea Thomas pitched the final two and one third innings allowing one hit, one walk and punching out four.

The Lakers were bested 17-2 against No. 3 Hutchinson in the opening round of the Section 8AA tournament. The last couple of days for the Lakers have been tough but that doesn’t take away from the growth the team saw since the first pitch.

“To be honest, it was disappointing because neither one of them should have been as bad as they were,” senior Ella Okeson said about the last two games. “But from our first game against Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton to here, there was lots of improvements, so you can’t be mad about that.”

After the game following the Lakers’ final gathering, Mejia and the other coaches gathered to talk with their three seniors – Isabelle Hansen, Borgmann, and Okeson.

“We’re going to miss them, of course, but we’re going to miss their positive leadership and the way they embodied our culture,” Mejia said. “Coming in as juniors with new coaches and having different coaches every year, they really truly embodied and bought into our family dynamic and the team that we’re trying to build. They embodied everything we needed, and we appreciate that on a daily.”

The Lakers added two more wins from last season and finished with a 5-16 overall record. Mejia concluded her second season as head coach and the ex-Laker softball player is excited about the direction the team is headed.

“Our main goal coming in this year was bring fun back into it, get better every practice, every game,” Mejia said. “We’re going to continue to do that every time. So that’s all I can ask for.”

And Borgmann sees that the program is in good hands with Mejia.

“I think it starts young, and I think we’ve definitely started to build up from there,” Borgmann said. “I think we have a lot of young talent, and I believe that they can go far, far places. They just need a little bit more time to develop.”

WILLMAR 17 DETROIT LAKES 4

WIL – 11 1 5 0 0 X X – 17

DTL – 0 2 2 0 0 X X – 4

DETROIT LAKES BATTING – Okeson: 1-3, R; Johnson: 1-2, R; Borgmann: 1-2; Chilton: 1-2, R, BB; Peterson: 0-1; Thomas: 0-1; Hansen: 1-2; May: 0-2; Larson: 0-2; Lyman 0-2

WP: Etterman (WIL); LP: May (DTL)