PARK RAPIDS – Kevin Cederstrom is counting on summer ball to pay dividends for the Park Rapids fastpitch softball team next spring.
Park Rapids’ 18U team went 11-6 this summer, including a 5-1 record in league play with doubleheader sweeps against Frazee (11-5 and 18-8) and Fergus Falls (13-6 and 18-1) and a split with New York Mills (losing 17-5 and winning 7-6).
The 18Us split eight tournament games, going 2-1 with wins over Little Falls (16-0) and Sauk Rapids (14-2) and a loss to the Minnesota Blast (15-0) at Pierz and 2-3 with wins over the Bemidji Blaze (14-6) and Littlefork (11-5) and losses to Aitkin (8-0), North Dakota Heat (13-4) and Pierz (14-3) at Bemidji.
At the season-ending league tournament, Park Rapids claimed runner-up as the No. 3 seed with wins over No. 6 Frazee (13-4) and No. 2 Barnesville (13-11) and a loss to No. 1 Hawley (7-0) in the championship game.
“The girls competed well all summer in league play and in tournaments. It’s important for them to see high quality pitchers in league and at tournaments to gain that valuable experience against good teams,” said Cederstrom. “We see a wide range of pitchers both in the school season and in summer, so to face pitchers who throw hard and change speeds gives us great experience to take into next spring.”
Vance Carlson / Enterprise
A total of 20 players competed for Park Rapids this summer, including eight who were varsity players this past spring. That varsity group featured Nora Cederstrom, Allie Rowland, Vivian Shepersky, Allie Michaelson, Rachel Ulvin, Rachel Weiss, Maggie Huber and Natalie Weiss. Ten of last spring’s junior varsity players worked on their games at the 18U level. That group consisted of Aubrey Current, Jalen Hensel, Adrienne Cook, Mika Isaacson, Madison Himango, Molly Cederstrom, Julia Grande, Kaitlyn Maves, Keira Noyd and Ella Oswald. Nevis’ Peyton Offerdahl as well as Brielle Branstrom and Abby Marsden rounded out this summer’s roster.
Vance Carlson / Enterprise
The game experience gained this summer should benefit the varsity team, which will have two starting spots to fill.
“I talked to the girls a lot this summer about going out and having fun playing ball in weather this game is meant to be played in. We talked about focusing on getting better on the details of the game, as well as their overall skills and game-time experience. These girls this summer committed to putting in practice time when they could with all the other things they have going on, showing up for games, playing hard and having fun as a team,” said Cederstrom. “Following the championship game of the league tournament, we talked about how every practice and every game they played in the summer makes them better and makes the team better against the tough teams we’ll face in our conference and section. We have a great group of players returning for the spring season with a lot of varsity experience. Whether they’ll be on varsity or junior varsity next spring, the commitment they showed this summer puts us in a good position going into spring ball. We need to build on that valuable experience to continue building a winning attitude needed to go from winning one or two playoff games in the spring to setting goals to win the section and go to the state tournament.”
Contributed / Kevin Cederstrom
1982 Dawson-Boyd High School graduate
1987 Moorhead State University graduate
Sports reporter for Park Rapids Enterprise since 1987
