A number of area high school softball players have been given All-State honors by the Minnesota Fastpitch Coaches' Association.
A trio of Kasson-Mantorville players were named first-team All-State in Class AA. The KoMets won the Class AA state title a week ago.
K-M players named to the first team were Maddie Damon(junior, pitcher), Cori Kennedy(junior, catcher) and Kaylea Schorr(senior, first baseman).
Also named to the first team were Carley Henning(senior, outfielder) and Morgan Olson(sophomore, pitcher) of Zumbrota-Mazeppa and Samantha Bratland(junior, pitcher) of Spring Grove/Caledonia.
Class AA second-team members were Byron's Vanessa Anderson(junior, third base), Zumbrota-Mazeppa's Tayler Mort(junior, catcher) and Katie Nachtigal(senior, third base) of Winona Cotter. Honorable mention picks were Steartville's Caitlyn Hughes(junior, pitcher) and Hannah Koselof Winona Cotter.
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Three area players were also named to the first team in Class A, Kailee Berquam(senior, pitcher) of Kenyon-Wanamingo, Dani Wagner(senior, shortstop) of Hayfield and Morgan Malley(junior, pitcher) of Fillmore Central/Lanesboro. Berquam pitched K-W to a state berth this season. Wagner will play at Minnesota next year.
Tessa Ivers(junior, catcher) of Blooming Prairie and Mateya Nagel(senior, first base) of Wabasha-Kellogg were named to the second team in Class A. Honorable mention picks included Taylor Daley(senior, catcher) of Lewiston-Altura and Hayfield's Jessie Foster(senior, second base).
In Class AAA, Mayo's Laura Henderson(senior, shortstop) was an honorable mention selection.
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La Crescent's Troy Traxler, who plays his college ball at Minnesota, is playing in the Northwoods League this summer.
Traxler recently completed his redshirt freshman season with the Gophers and he had a solid spring. The 5-foot-11, 180-pounder is now playing for the Wisconsin Woodchucks, a South Division team in the Northwoods League.
Traxler appeared in 31 of Minnesota's 51 games during the 2014 season and he made 18 starts. He batted .310 (18-for-58) with three doubles, six RBIs and 11 runs scored.
The Gophers finished the season 27-24.
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Traxler has been playing the outfielder for the Wisconsin Woodchucks. He had played in 14 of the team's first 15 games he is batting .268 with two doubles, a triple, five RBIs and six runs scored.
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Zach Eggersof Chatfield has signed a letter of intent to play baseball at Rochester Community and Technical College.
Eggers was a shortstop for the Gophers an batted leadoff. He helped the Gophers win a Section 1A championship this season and earn a berth in the Class A state tournament.
Eggers was batting .276 with 13 RBIs heading into the state tournament.
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Lewiston-Altura baseball coach Jerry Stensgardhas decided to retire following the 2014 spring season.
Stensgard has spent 35 years coaching junior high, high school and college athletics. He spent 30 years as a coach in Minnesota.
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Several area athletes have been selected to represent Team Minnesota in the upcoming 2014 USA Special Olympics Games.
Area athletes competing include Rochester's Christopher Grant, Nathan Meer, Travis Dzwonkowskiand William Sanderfoot, and Byron's Matt Copler. The Special Olympics will be held in New Jersey and begin today and run until next Saturday. Nearly 3,500 athletes will compete in 16 Olympic-style team and individual sports during the Games.
Grant will compete in bocce ball. Mee will compete in aquatics. Sanderfoot, Dzwonkowski and Copler will all compete in basketball.
Jeff Coplerfrom Byron is one of the assistant coaches for the basketball team.
