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Shortstop Olivia Holmgren covers second base as a New London-Spicer baserunner slides on for a successful stolen base.
Litchfield's Grace Braaten hustles down the line to beat out an infield hit against New London-Spicer.
Litchfield catcher Karlee Prahl waits for the late-arriving throw from the outfield as a New London-Spicer runner scores in the third inning.
Senior centerfielder Ryanna Steinhaus runs down a fly ball.
Senior shortstop Olivia Holmgren prepares to fire a throw to first base.
A New London-Spicer baserunner beats the tag from Litchfield shortstop Olivia Holmgren.
A roster dotted with returning talent gives first-year Litchfield softball coach Kristen Gotfredson high hopes for the 2023 season.
“One of our biggest strengths this season is the amount of returners coming back with varsity experience,” Gotfredson said. “These girls know what is expected and they know from the previous two seasons what it takes to make it further on in the section tournament.”
The Dragons finished last season with a 12-14 record, but they made a strong postseason run for the second consecutive year, reaching the Section 3AA elimination bracket final before falling to Luverne. That followed a run to the Section 3AA championship game in 2021.
Just three starters were lost from last year’s squad, but they leave big shoes to fill. Taylor Draeger, the Dragons’ ace pitcher for two seasons, graduated, as did third baseman Brittney Prahl and catcher Addie Marquardt.
Given those graduation losses, Gotfredson said, “our team will be looking to establish depth in pitching and catching. We are exploring all our opportunities in both of those areas.”
Among the returning starters this season are seniors Izzy Pennertz, Oliva Holmgren, Grace Braaten and Ryanna Steinhaus, and juniors Olivia Olson and Cam Iverson.
Two other seniors — Paige Lehar and Kaitlyn Palmer — also will contribute.
“They area a great group of girls with tons of softball experience,” Gotfredson said of the returning players.
Underclassmen who could see extensive playing time include sophomore catcher Karlee Prahl, sophomore second baseman/designated player Grace Holmgren, junior third baseman Kira Kuechle and senior utility player Izzy Culbertson.
“With so many players being returners, we are aiming at improving our goals from last season,” Gotfredson said. “We are looking at the areas that we struggled last year and trying to find ways to make ourselves better. That can be being more aggressive at the plate, (and) being able to adjust to different pitching speeds faster.”
Specific goals, Gotfredson said, include raising the team batting average from .270 last season to .300 this year, and cutting down on errors. Last season the Dragons averaged 2.3 errors per game, and Gotfredson said they need to reduce those mistakes to fewer than two per game.
Improvement will be needed as Litchfield competes in the tough Wright County Conference, where Gotfredson expects Rockford, Dassel-Cokato and Watertown-Mayer to be among the leaders.
“This year we will have some really good teams to play against,” she said. “There will be some pretty good matchups in our conference.”
The Dragons found a way to squeeze in two games between the challenging rainy and cold days so far this season, and Gotfredson’s prediction of Rockford being among the WCC leaders proved correct, as the Rockets beat the Dragons 11-1 in both teams’ season opener.
Litchfield also fell to New London-Spicer 9-6 April 18, dropping its record to 0-2, as it heads into a week with three games. The Dragons were to play Watertown-Mayer Monday, then travel to face Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted for a double-header slated to begin at 4 p.m. Thursday.
