Zumbrota-Mazeppa is a State Softball Champion

The Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougars are the 2016 Class AA State Softball champions.

The Cougars defeated the Pequot Lakes Patriots in no-doubter fashion 7-0 behind senior pitcher Morgan Olson's one hitter. Olson gave up a total of four hits in the tournament, two one hitters and a two hitter.

It looked like it might be a tough game in the first inning.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa senior right fielder Bella Wagner smacked a one-out single, stole second and was wild pitched to third. That was followed by a strikeout looking and a fly out to left field to end the inning and another runner was left on base.

It was the story of the day in Thursday's 2-1 win over Le Sueur-Henderson and 2-0 win over Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton. Zumbrota-Mazeppa left a total of 15 runners on base and 11 of them were in scoring position Thursday.

Then in the bottom of the first, Pequot Lakes lead-off hitter Barbara Miller swung at the first pitch thrown by Olson and hit a dribbler down the first base line that wasn't fielded cleanly and the Patriots had a runner at first with nobody out. That was their best scoring opportunity of the day and Olson struck out the final two batters to end the inning after an attempted bunt hit the runner in fair territory and she was out.

Pequot Lakes never had a runner past first base and only had two other base runners.

Olson struck out 12 batters to go along with her 19 strikeouts Thursday. That's 31 strikeouts in the three games.

In the top of the second the Cougars unleashed their bunting game. Junior center fielder Natalie Majerus started the inning with a bunt single and stole second base. Sophomore second baseman Lindsey Quam's bunt ended in an error by the first baseman.

Senior left fielder Kathryn Hodgman also reached base on an error scoring Majerus.

Following a strike-out, No. 9 hitter senior catcher Aubrey Reuter smacked an RBI single and Olson hit a 2 RBI triple to give the Cougars a 4-0 lead.

I'm sure that felt pretty comfortable for the hundreds of Zumbrota-Mazeppa fans at Caswell Park in North Mankato to cheer on their team with the way Olson was pitching.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa left another runner at third base in the fourth and with one out in the fifth inning had a hit parade consisting of four hits with seven batters coming to the plate.

Junior first baseman Tara Matuska started the onslaught with a solid single to left field. Senior shortstop Kellie Nordquist had an infield single, Majerus also had an infield single. Quam laid down a perfect bunt that scored a run.

By the way Matuska, Nordquist and Hodgman each had stolen bases in the inning.

Hodgman collected an RBI single and stole a base as the Cougars added three runs in the fifth.

Through five innings they had seven stolen bases and the first one by Wagner was standing up.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa had a single to start the seventh inning and that was followed by a strikeout when tournament officials called the game due to some severe lightning and told everyone to leave the park and go to a nearby elementary school.

A severe thunderstorm warning was issued and I just got my equipment in my vehicle before the rain started coming down sideways accompanied by high winds. Within a few minutes I was driving in pouring rain and hail was pelting the car.

I drove to a nearby gas station and parked under the canopy like a number of other people. I didn't see any hail damage to my vehicle.

The game resumed about four hours after it was suspended and 10 minutes later the Zumbrota-Mazeppa Cougars had their school's first team state championship.

Olson finished the game throwing 85 pitches, 64 were for strikes. She was 19 of 24 first-pitch strikes.

In 21 innings at the state tournament, Olson allowed just four hits and one run while striking out 31 and walked two batters and hit a batter. She was a no-brainer to be named to the All-Tournament team, and teammates Bella Wagner and Natalie Majerus joined her.

The seven seniors were named State Farm Agent Lyle Wendroth Cougars of the game along with Majerus with a two-hit game.

Zumbrota-Mazeppa finished the season with a 26-1 record and did not lose to a Minnesota school all year. Their only loss came on May 3 when they fell 4-3 in nine innings to Hudson, Wis. The shutout was the 16th of an opponent this season.

In the playoffs, Olson was really locked in, tallying four shutouts in seven games.

The title gives the Hiawatha Valley League it's third straight Class AA crown.

Kasson-Mantorville won it the past two seasons and moved up to Class AAA with the expansion to four classes this year.