Tiger Softball Finished 21-4 placing second in Section 3AA
Head Coach Mary Holmberg had this to say about the Morris Area Chokio-Alberta Girls Softball 2025 year.
“We had a terrific 2025 season. Our kids competed with the best in the section and in the state. Early in the season we defeated Rocori 5-2, and they went on to be the Class AAA State Champions.”
Our team was led by five seniors, Ellen Reed, Makenzie Konz, Kaylin Steen, Amaya Raths and Lauren Hottovy. “These seniors were captains, and natural leaders. They were at every morning practice, helped daily with equipment and always led daily warm ups. Most importantly, they served as fantastic role models for our program.”
We finished our season with a 21-4 record, placing second in Section 3AA . We have had consecutive 20 game wins since 2019 and have won the West Central Conference for the past 10 consecutive years. “This speaks to our program and the consistency in coaches over the past years.” Mary Asche has served as the Junior Varsity coach for 25 years and posted a 17-1 record this year. Mike Weick, in his second year, is the C Squad coach, who also had a winning season. Helping as volunteer coaches were Tony Reimers, Bobby Culbertson and Neal Hofland. Junior High coaches were Reid Rose and Lilly Giggee. We were fortunate to have Julie Evink, Danielle Gades and Amber Christians as volunteer coaches at the junior high level.
Varsity team members besides the seniors included Addison Cihak, Jade Marty, Haley Kill, Nora Boyle Ryla Koehler, Samantha Konz, Brenna Jergenson, Harmony Coverdale, Leah Berlinger, Ashlin Gibson, Mia Lu Asche, Addison Smith, Maggie Culbertson, managers Sadie Koehler, and Lilly Young.
“We had excellent pitchers in Haley Kill and Nora Boyle. Both pitchers were instrumental in us winning the West Central Conference.” JV pitchers, Addison Smith, Maggie Culbertson and Aina Rose put in much time and contributed to our JV’s success. Also, our catchers, Sam Konz, Ryla Koehler, Mia Lu Asche ,and Maddie Pope put in much time working with the pitchers. “We pitch and catch two to three mornings a week in March and April. Mary Asche takes the catchers and Bobby, Culbertson, Reid Rose and myself work with the pitchers. This is such an important time for our program.”
Our games with Jackson County Central were epic and we had a great regular season and section tournament.” After defeating Minnewaska and Pipestone, the Tigers played Jackson County Central on May 27th. They went three innings with JCC before it was suspended by a rain delay. “We had a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning when the rain really started coming down. It was difficult to grip the ball and we gave up a couple of walks and a run. JCC had runners on first and third with one out when the game was suspended.” The Tigers returned Wednesday to finish the game and lost 3-2 in 8 innings. “Haley was in total control before having to pitch in the rain. She had 13 strikeouts in that eight inning loss. Later that day the Tigers defeated Dassel Cokato 1-0. “Aubrey Quern is a great pitcher and we generated 1 run that game to eliminate the Chargers.” MACA had made three trips back to back to Marshall for the championship game on May 29th. “We played so hard and gave it all we had. I am so proud of our intense, six hour, performance. Our girls played with so much heart and great defense. We made play after play in the field, taking away base hits and responding to everything they gave us.” The Tigers won game one, 2-1 in 8 innings. “We knew every game would be close. They had several lefties and our girls had prepared for their bunting, slapping. and running. Our infielders, Steen, Hottovy, Coverdale and Raths made play after play on slappers and bunts. Koehler, Cihak and Jergensen played tough in the outfield.” “Poised and resilient is how I would describe Haley Kill’s pitching performance, she was phenomenal. She pitched 22 strong innings and Sam Konz called a great game.” In the six section games Kill gave up 29 hits, 17 runs, 8 earned, 11 walks and 68 strike outs.
“It was heartbreaking for our kids to lose after playing with so much heart.”
“We are grateful for the season we had, and the team and individual accomplishments. We are so fortunate to have supportive parents, and thankful we can represent both the Morris Area and Chokio Alberta Schools.”
