St. Cloud Cathedral endures a tense start, defeats Hawley for Class 2A softball state title

His players weren’t worried, so St. Cloud Cathedral coach Todd Dingmann wasn’t going to worry, either. Well, not much, anyway.

Cathedral junior pitcher Keira Alexander, highly valued for her defensive acumen in center field before the season started, rebounded from a potentially disastrous beginning to pitch the Crusaders to a 7-2 victory over Hawley in the Class 2A championship game Friday at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.

In the top of the first, Alexander hit the first two batters she faced and walked the next. Hawley had the bases loaded without putting a ball in play.

“I was a little stressed,” Dingmann said. “That wasn’t the start we wanted. But she just needed to settle down. We trust her. And, you know, she’s pretty fearless.”

Alexander got out of the jam without giving up a run. She induced two infield pop-ups, then got a flyout to center.

Dingmann was able to breathe a little earlier, and the rest of the Crusdaders said they never had a doubt Alexander would wiggle out of trouble.

“No, no, no, no,” junior first baseman Tayla Vought said emphatically. “We have so much confidence in Keira. She had the fire to get it done, and she wanted it more than any of us. And she got it.”

In the meantime, the Cathedral players were dealing with the change of pace of Hawley pitcher Eagan Hastings. For two innings, the Crusaders mustered just one hit, and that player was thrown out stealing.

No matter. Dingmann said earlier in the tournament he thought his group was the best hitting team, one through nine, in the tournament. The offense came alive in the third inning.

Finley Polipnick singled with one out. Alexander bunted for a hit. A throwing error allowed Polipnick to score, and Alexander wound up on third. Liz Bell walked, and Sadie Meyer’s bunt scored Alexander and landed Meyer at second.

“We tried a little small ball,” Dingmann said.

One batter later, Kyah Koenig ripped a gapper to right. The two runners scored easily and Koenig came around to score after she ran through a stop sign at third. The ball reached the catcher first, but it rolled away when Koenig slid.

“I just slid and I hoped for the best,” Koenig said.

Koenig was credited with three RBI, giving her 10 in three tournament games.

Meanwhile, Alexander had settled in, holding down the Hawley hitters.

Two innings later, Vought got her sixth hit of the tournament, crushing a ball to left. Vought circled the bases for the second inside-the-parker of the game. That scored two runs, giving Cathedral a 7-0 lead.

“I never stopped,” Vought said.

Down big, Hawley showed pluck in the seventh. Hannah Stotts drilled a sinking liner to left that went under the left fielder’s glove and scooted to the wall. Marley Knutson scored ahead of Stotts, cutting the margin to 7-2. Inside-the-parker No. 3.

Hawley got two runners on, but Alexander, as she had done all game, extricated herself and got two outs to close out the victory.

Koenig said the players knew they were destined for a state championship after beating No. 1 seed Randolph in the semifinals.

“Once we did that, we knew this was ours,” she said.