Local Girls Play in 12U Little League World Series

A local girls 12-and-under softball team based out of St. Charles recently made history, traveling to Whitetown, Indiana, to play in the Little League World Series Regional Tournament. This opportunity started with area coaches wanting to expand opportunities for their players to compete on the national stage. Since Little League International is the largest governing body of any youth association, it seemed like a great fit. With Minnesota not being represented in recent years, it was like starting from scratch. This was when the boots hit the ground and plan was made. As per Little League format, a league in St. Charles was formed and teams registered.  The league started play in early April, so they did not have to compete with other already established organizations.  It was designed to provide a head start for players before the summer leagues started. This inaugural season housed 11 teams from all over southeast Minnesota.  Each were placed in a North division or South division. They competed every Sunday afternoon for six weeks. The North division was made up of community-based teams from Rochester, Pine Island, Zumbrota, Kasson Mantorville and Dover-Eyota.  The South division consisted of teams from Winona, St. Charles, Lewiston, Stewartville, Austin and Chatfield. Once the regular season was completed, an All-Star team was selected from each division. They played a best-of-three game series to earn the right to compete in Whitetown, Indiana, (a suburb of Indianapolis) in the Central Regional tournament. Selected team members were Kylie Thorne, Brianna Morrison, Emma Lange, Kamryn Corkill, Violet Lagervall, and Brynlie Pollack from Austin, Alexia Du Preez and Charli Jenson from Lewiston, Hadley Dornack from Chatfield, Ellery Obermeyer from Wells (United South Central School District), Emersyn Gosse from Wabasha, and Stella Peterson from Winona.  Dornack and Obermeyer are notably first cousins. Coaches for team St. Charles were head coach Dan Kosel (Austin) plus assistants Corey Dornack (Chatfield) and Stephen Lange (Austin). Team St. Charles went 2-2 at the 10-team Little League Softball Central Region tournament held July 17 through July 22. They beat Johnston (Iowa) 1-0, then lost to Floyd’s Knobb (Indiana) 8-0, beat St. Clair (Michigan) 6-4, before falling to Daniel Boone Little League of Columbia (Missouri) 5-0. All of the games were televised on ESPN-plus. The team from Minnesota effectively made the final four. Daviess County (Kentucky) topped Floyd’s Knobb to represent the Central Region in the Softball Little League World Series. Such an event is the girls’ equivalent to more fabled boys baseball Little League World Series held in South Williamsport, Pennsylvania. It was the first time a Minnesota team played in said softball Regional World Series since 2010 and their first win(s) since 2008 (per ESPN announcers).