Cotter Ramblers Softball Poised for Sectionals; ‘Certainly Capable of Winning’

Photo: Cotter Schools

(KWMN)- After finishing the regular season with a convincing 17-3 record, the Cotter Ramblers softball team earned the three seed in the 1AA section tournament. The 1AA section tournament is a double-elimination bracket-style tournament that contains 16 teams. A team must win five games before getting their second loss to be crowned section champs and advance to the state tournament on June 9th and 10th.

It won’t be a walk in the park for the Ramblers to qualify for state, as they’ll have to go through St. Charles and Chatfield. Both of whom got the best of the Ramblers earlier in the year. I spoke with the head coach of the Ramblers, Pat Bowlin, who’s in the midst of his 30th season as head coach, “It’s a loaded subsection, probably the best three teams [Cotter, St. Charles, and Chatfield], record-wise, in all my years coaching.”

The Ramblers, however, are looking forward to the challenge and having already lost to both of those teams, bring extra motivation with them. Bowlin responded with a simple “absolutely” when asked if his team relishes the opportunity to play St. Charles and Chatfield again. The losses to Chatfield and St. Charles came in back-to-back games back in April, in which the Ramblers were unable to score a run in either contest. Every run scored for Chatfield (four) was unearned and St. Charles scored one of their two runs off an error as well. Safe to say there is plenty of room for improvement.

Bowlin thinks his defense has improved since then but has been most impressed with the improvement inside the batter’s box. From April 25th to May 14th, Cotter played in 11 games. In those 11 games, they scored 56 runs while losing their only three games of the season. Since the 14th, The Ramblers have played four games, almost equaling the number of runs scored in the previous 11 games at 49. Bowlin admitted the hitting isn’t as good as in years past, but seemed enamored with the improvement from his team,

“I think primarily it’s coming from our younger players starting to contribute” Said Bowlin ” I mean really much of the year we struggled to score in the bottom of the order and lately the bottom of the order kids have been doing much, much better.”

As great as the bottom of the order has looked in the past weeks, the strength in this team lies at the top of the order in Allie French and Savannah Repinski. French is hitting a monstrous avg that eclipses the .500 mark and to put a real nice-looking cherry on top, she has 21 extra-base hits. they’ve played 20 games. Not to mention that the Senior excels defensively, acting as a vacuum at Shortstop. Bowlin had plenty of nice things to say about French, but what he kept referring to her as, was “A true student of the game.” French will be taking her talents right up Hwy 61 to Saint Marys University, where she’ll be taught by Cardinal Legend John Tschida. Bowlin thinks it’s a great fit and, “Would not be surprised if Allie finds her way into the lineup as a freshman.”

For Repinski, she lights up the box score just as much. Repinski is batting a stunning .466, plays first base, pitches and, she’s in 8^th Grade. Already making an impact for The Ramblers, Repinski will have four more years to keep getting better, “She’s got a great future” said Bowlin.

Of course, don’t forget about Madison Hazelton. The Sophomore Ace has embarrassed hitters across the state of Minnesota all season long. With at least one no-hitter to her name, she’s been the most consistent on the team, and as Bowlin said “In most ways, she’s been our MVP.” Bowlin continued, “she’s really carried us in many areas.” According to mnsoftballhub.com, Hazelton is 15-3 on the year, has a sub 1.00 ERA, and has only given up 49 hits. I did the math, she gave up a mere 1.9 hits per game, PER GAME. Bowlin said he doesn’t think he’s seen anyone actually hit her changeup for a base-hit.

With all that said, it’s clear this team is good and has all the tools to be great, but playoffs are always a different animal. Luckily, no one knows that animal better than Bowlin, who’s reached the state tournament 12 times and won the state tournament twice (2003-06),

“I certainly think we’re capable of getting to the state tournament…certainly capable of winning [the sectional tournament],” Bowlin stated.

Cotter will open their sectional tournament by hosting Caledonia tonight at 5:00 p.m. from Cotter Fields.

Bowlin says, “It starts in the circle with Madison…and then of course the bats.” Hazelton has already pitched to the Warriors of Caledonia twice. She allowed one hit combined in both appearances.