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  • The ‘Big Three’ for Loyola this season are returning seniors (from left to right) catcher Lizzy Karp, third baseman Alli Helget and pitcher Laura Michaletz. Pat Christman

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March 21, 2010

Loyola looks to erase bad taste of last year

Crusaders fell one game short of state tourney

By Jim Rueda Free Press Sports Editor

MANKATO — The veteran players on the Loyola softball team remember well how last season ended.

They had reached the final round of the Section 2A Tournament and needed to lose twice to be denied a Class A state tournament berth. Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, led by pitching phenom Whitney Johnson, outdueled Loyola and pitcher Laura Michaletz for a 2-1, 11-inning win in the section’s first championship game and then ended the Crusaders’ season with a 6-3 win in Game 2.

“We remember it,”  Michaletz said  during practice this week. “We’ve had a whole year to remember it.”

Senior third baseman Alli Helget also recalls the ending: “It was disappointing and frustrating. To come so close and then lose is hard to handle.”

The Crusaders are starting fresh this season. Led by the senior nucleus of Michaletz, Helget and catcher Lizzy Karp, they have set their sights high. Their goal is at once simple and complex — to end the year with a win in the Class A championship game on June 11 at Caswell Park.

“We think we can do it,” said Helget, who may experiment with batting left-handed this season. “We believe we have the talent and the experience, we just need to stay focused every game.”

Karp, who has been the team’s starting catcher since 2006, led the team in batting average and RBIs last season. She’s also considered one of the top defensive catchers in the area.

Michaeltz has been starting on the mound since her sophomore year when she replaced an injured Kayla Frederick to begin the 2008 campaign. She compiled an ERA under 2.00 last season and said she’s added three new pitches to her repertoire.

Helget led the Crusaders in walks a year ago and was second behind Karp in batting average. She suffered through a month-long bout with Bells Palsy last fall but is now completely recovered and ready to end her final season with a flourish.

Two other members of the Loyola infield also return. Junior shortstop Hannah Gaspar, who led the team in steals, is back, as is freshman second baseman Jessi Van Blarcom. In the outfield, left fielder Bobbie Sellner returns as does right fielder Jamie Menke.

“If you looked at our roster on paper you’d say we have a young team,” head coach Laura Olson said. “We have those three seniors, who have played for a long time, but everybody else is pretty young.”

Olson said her biggest challenges this preseason are to find replacements for Ellen McCargar at first base and Jacqui Menke in center field. Both players have graduated.

“Finding out where everybody fits, both defensively and in the batting order, is going to be a challenge, too,” Olson said. “Our hope is to get everybody to be able to play at least two or three positions and that will give us a lot of flexibility.”

Karp is all for flexibility but there’s one thing more important to her — winning.

“I went to state my first year as an eighth-grader and we haven’t been back since,” she said. “It would be great if the seniors could end their careers with another trip to state.”

The Crusaders are scheduled to open the season Thursday, April 8, with a 5 p.m. game against Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton at the Loyola field.

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