After Making State Title Games in 2022, Both Proctor & MLWR Hope for Different Results in 2023

St. Agnes and Proctor will start at 11:30. Following that game, New Ulm Cathedral and Moose Lake/Willow River will play at 1:30.

PROCTOR, Minn.- It was nearly a year ago, the Proctor Rails softball team found themselves in the Class AA state title game.

Fast forward to now, and the team is ramping up again for a shot at the title.

Proctor, who drew the number three seed will open up state tournament play Thursday morning against unseeded St. Agnes.

Both teams come into the contest with a 20 and 4 record and both nearly put up 200 runs on the board this season.

Head Coach Bud Joyce says it took awhile for his team this year to find their rhythm but he’s glad it resulted in a state berth.

“It’s great, we had three key players to replace. Took us awhile to figure that out. But I think towards the last third of the season we figured what we were going to do defensively. Didn’t always work out, but the kids played better together and that helped us,” said Joyce.

First pitch between St. Agnes and Proctor is scheduled for 11:15 AM Thursday at Caswell Park in Mankato.

Like the Rails, the Moose Lake/Willow River Rebels were in the state title game a year ago, only this time for Class A.

Moose Lake hopes for a different result as they will play New Ulm Cathedral to start the tourney on Thursday.

The Rebels are the 3 seed and the Greyhounds come into the contest unseeded.

Moose Lake has a number of key returners that experienced that title game last year, including their two starting pitchers Sarah Christy and Alexis Hoffman.

They hope that helps them this time around.

“I think they’re probably two of the best pitchers in the Northland. They compete with some of the top other pitchers in our area and we happen to have two on the same two this year. They’ve done a great job just trading off roles. They each take a game here and there. They work together well and hit the ball a ton. It’s just been really exciting to watch them grow up and be wonderful girls,” said head coach Kelly Goeb.

Gametime between New Ulm Cathedral and Moose Lake/Willow River is at 1:30 PM at Caswell Park.