Ridgewater Warriors' softball team, led by sophomore Nevaeh Rahm, is set for the Region 13 Tournament. They face Central Lakes College in a best-of-three series starting Saturday.
Apr. 24—WILLMAR — When it was mentioned to Nevaeh Rahm that
had a softball team, she was a bit surprised.
"I didn't even know there was a Ridgewater," Rahm admitted.
Since enrolling, the agri-business major has emerged as one of the main reasons Ridgewater is headed to its second straight Region 13 Tournament. The Warriors play a best-of-three series beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday at Central Lakes College in Brainerd. A third game, if needed, will be noon Sunday.
Ridgewater is 8-12 and the No. 3 seed from the Minnesota College Athletic Conference South Division. CLC is the top seed in the MCAC North. The top three from the South and North divisions advance to Region 13 and play first-round best-of-three series.
The top four teams from this weekend's series playoffs advance to the Super Regional which begins Friday, May 1. The host will be the winner of St. Cloud Technical & Community College, the South's top seed, and Rainy River, the North's No. 3 seed. Rainy River is in International Falls.
"It definitely feels good," Rahm said.
Rahm, a hard-throwing right-hander from Fairmont, has pitched the vast majority of the Warriors' innings the past two seasons and is currently batting fourth in the lineup. She's the only sophomore on the team. She has pitched 94-2/3 innings with 131 strikeouts and 69 walks. The Warriors have pitched 109-2/3 innings this season, meaning Rahm has pitched 86.35% of the team's innings.
"You can't win, obviously, with just pitching," Rahm said. "Everybody is hitting, putting the ball in play, letting them (opponents) make mistakes. And that feels really good."
She's also Ridgewater's leading hitter. She's batting .353 with a .450 on-base and .667 slugging percentage. In 20 games, she has hit eight doubles, a triple, two home runs and drove in 14 runs.
Pitching, of course, is something she enjoys. But the Warriors don't have many options if she's not up to the task. Aly Wendlandt and Madison Norsten have thrown here and there to give her a break.
"Sometimes it's not my favorite," Rahm said of the heavy workload. "Obviously, this week was really hard, having games back-to-back-to-back. But I just have to push. ...
"Mentally, you have to be strong. Sometimes, it is hard. But you just have to tell yourself that you're better than that."
It hasn't always gone well. But, Rahm said she has good support.
"My teammates pick me up when it (a tough game) does happen, which is nice," Rahm said.
CLC went 15-1 in the MCAC North are is 23-19 overall. The Raiders beat Ridgewater 11-3 in the Warriors' season-opener March 27 in Rochester.
"We stuck with them and then we just kind of lost it," Rahm said.
The Raiders led 4-3 through three innings, but scored two in the fourth and five in the fifth to end it early.
"It was our first game and we did stick with them," Ridgewater head coach Jordyn Swoboda said. "But they had played a bunch of games before ours."
Nevaeh Rahm is a sophomore agri-business major who has become a key player for the Ridgewater Warriors, helping them reach the Region 13 Tournament.
The Warriors will play a best-of-three series starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday, with a potential third game at noon on Sunday.
Ridgewater has a record of 8-12 and is the No. 3 seed from the Minnesota College Athletic Conference South Division.
Ridgewater will face Central Lakes College, which is the top seed in the MCAC North Division.
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CLC played its first game Feb. 7 in Aberdeen, South Dakota, almost seven weeks before the Warriors' first game. The Raiders had a 10-11 record when they played Ridgewater in Rochester and had also played in Blaine and North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
The Warriors look forward to playing CLC again. For Rahm, being competitive is her nature. She also played on the women's basketball team her first year at Ridgewater. She's happy with the decision to come to Willmar.
"My boyfriend's from up here and he told me about Ridgewater," Rahm said. "I was a three-sport athlete in high school and I wanted to continue. And they asked me (to play basketball) and it's hard to say no."
She has an opportunity to play softball at a four-year school. She said she has been recruited by Valley City State in North Dakota. Rahm said CLC coach Ray Austin has told her he would recommend her to college coaches he knew.
"I'm kind of on the fence," Rahm said. "It'll depend on whether they have my major (they do) and whether I'll have the time."
It's been a rough two-and-a-half weeks for the Ridgewater baseball team. The Warriors have lost nine of their last 10 games going into an important weekend series with Minnesota State-Fergus Falls. All four games with the Spartans are must-win if Ridgewater hopes to qualify for the Region 13 tournament.
"We're going to have to win out, probably," said Ridgewater head coach Tyler Hebrink, whose team also has a four-game series with Central Lakes College next week. "And we may need a little bit of help."
Anoka-Ramsey is third in the MCAC South. The top three advance to the regional. The Warriors, however, hold the tiebreaker with the Golden Rams, who are 7-5 in the MCAC South and 13-12 overall. Ridgewater is 2-10 in the conference and 11-15 overall. Anoka-Ramsey has four games left with Fergus Falls (2-9, 5-23) and four with nationally ranked St. Cloud Technical & Community College (11-1, 26-6-1).
CLC (2-9, 3-23), like Fergus Falls, has struggled. Winning out is not out of the question for Ridgewater.
"We're going to have to play well," said Hebrink, who believes his team has not played well in its latest stretch after having a great fall season and after having played well in Florida.
Ridgewater has a home doubleheader with Fergus Falls beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday.
The Elrosa Saints open the 2026 amateur baseball season with their home-opener at 1:30 p.m. Sunday against the Lake Henry Lakers in a Stearns County League game.
Elrosa is hoping to get back to the state tournament after making it last year, but losing in the first round, 6-2 to Windom.
"We've got to be one of the youngest teams around," Elrosa manager A.J. Hadley said.
Two key veterans have retired. Long-time pitcher Ethan Vogt, a former University of Minnesota Gopher, has turned 40 and doesn't plan to play. Neither does long-time lead-off hitter Kevin Kueffler, who began playing at age 15. He's retiring after 20 seasons. He's the head boys basketball coach at Sauk Centre High School. That leaves a roster where every player is between 17 and 24 years old except for 27-year-old Derek Wiener.
The Saints have two players in college ball this spring, Ethan Mueller at Alexandria Technical & Community College and Luke Illies at St. Cloud Technical. Both are still playing college ball.
"We'll be a little thin," Hadley said of Sunday's game.