https://www.facebook.com/106186559045020/

Spring Grove Softball, Spring Grove, MN (2026)

06/08/2026

Sherburne Earns All-SEC Softball Honors
By Lee Epps
Spring Grove eighth grader Claire Sherburne was named by Southeast Conference coaches to the 2026 All-SEC Softball Team. It was the second postseason honor year for Lion junior Jada Strinmoen, who received Honorable Mention this season after being a First Team selection in 2025. Both also received Academic All-Conference recognition.
Each of the seven SEC squads was represented, but conference champion Houston and runner-up Southland, with six and five selections respectively, dominated the 17-player First Team. It was a highly celebrated and experienced crew with 11 of the 17 being repeat selections, including a pair of fourth-year honorees and five three-time all-stars.
Experience could reign again next spring with 11 of this year’s 17 First Team players retaining eligibility for 2027. The top two clubs, who battled for the crown this year, will be well-stocked
for a repeat showdown with Houston having five All-SEC underclassmen and Southland four.
Third place Mabel-Canton and fourth place Spring Grove each have one First Team selection with eligibility for 2027.
Sherburne is one of five First Team pitchers. There are eight infielders and three outfielders but only one catcher. Sherburne is the youngest as the only eighth grader, First Team or Honorable
Mention.
Sherburne was an all-around offensive standout, leading the Lions in numerous statistical categories: batting .481 with six home runs among her 12 extra-base hits while driving in 20 runs
(RBIs) and scoring 13 runs and was the Lion least likely to strike out. She also stole four bases and had one of the team’s three sacrifices.
Voted the Spring Grove Most Valuable Player, Sherburne pitched all except three innings with a 3.43 earned run average (ERA). Averaging nearly two strikeouts per inning, she fanned 206
batters, increasing her career total to 327.
Strinmoen moved to anchor the infield as a junior shortstop in 2026 after an all-conference sophomore season in the outfield in 2025. She shared the team lead with 13 runs scored while
batting .263 with seven runs batted in and five stolen bases.

05/29/2026

MVP Sherburne, Strinmoen Repeat Softball Honorees
By Lee Epps
Eighth grade pitcher Claire Sherburne was the voted by her 2026 Spring Grove softball teammates the Dot Richardson Most Valuable Player for the second season and was also a repeat
recipient of both the Jocelyn Alo Offensive Player Award and the Jennie Finch Pitching Award.

For a third straight season, junior Jada Strinmoen was the choice for the Jessica Mendoza Defensive Player Award and for the second consecutive season the winner of the Anderson Team
Player Award. Freshman Braelyn Middendorf received the most team votes for Most Improved.
Sherburne (MVP, Pitching, Offense) was in the pitcher’s circle during 104 of the 107 innings pitched with a 3.43 earned run average while striking out 206 batters - amazingly, nearly two per
inning. The eighth grade hurler now has 327 career varsity strikeouts.
While facing opposing pitchers in 2026, Sherburne led the Lion attack in five statistical categories: batting average (.481); hits (25), extra base hits (12, including six home runs), runs
batted in (20) and fewest strikeouts in addition to sharing the team lead with 13 runs scored. She hit safely in 13 of the 17 games, including multiple hits in nine games.
Strinmoen (Defense, Team Player), who anchored the infield defense at shortstop, has now won the defensive award while playing in both the outfield (2024) and the infield (’25 and ’26).
Among this year’s starter, she shared the scoring lead with 13 runs, had the second-most hits and the third-best batting average .263 while ranking third again with five stolen bases.
Braelyn Middendorf (MIP) a freshman infielder, broke into the varsity lineup as the full-time starter at second base.
The Lions excelled in the classroom as well; all nine letter winners were Academic AllConference. Strinmoen plus junior classmates Brinley Middendorf and Izabel Kaufmann each received a fourth varsity softball letter. Claire Sherburne earned a second letter. First-year letter winners were freshmen Braelyn Middendorf and Brailyn Gulbranson along with eighth grader
Addison Rask plus seventh graders Kallyn Morken and Jadyn Sherburne.

05/25/2026

Spring Grove Softball, 2026: Pitching Progress, Home Runs, Close Losses
By Lee Epps
The 2026 Spring Grove softball girls had a 7-10 record in their fourth season after reinstating a
stand-alone program, numerically similar to two of the past three seasons: 8-11 in 2025 and 6-10 in 2023, all better than the 7-13 campaign of 2024. It was a very young Lion squad facing some formidable foes with two games each against state-ranked No. 2 Houston and No. 2 section seed Southland plus a contest against Goodhue, a larger Class AA team with a winning record. Two of those five losses were decided by a single run, one going five extra innings.
Despite those challenges, Kelsey Morken’s and Taylor Elton’s Lions both outscored and out-hit
the opposition overall while showing the most statistical improvement in the pitcher’s circle. And the Grove girls also batted with blasts, amazingly with 38 (more than a third) of their base
knocks going for extra bases - 12 home runs, 10 triples and 16 doubles. Opponents had 14 extra-base hits, including three home runs.
That first year of 2023, the Lions were not eligible for Southeast Conference honors, but in the
past three seasons, the girls have had conference records of 7-7, then 7-7 again and this just-
completed season 5-6. It would very likely have been another break-even .500 league record had a thunderstorm not caused cancelation of a game in which Spring Grove was leading against Lyle/Pacelli, a team they had previously thrashed, 13-0.
With or without that win, the Lions were in fourth place after two straight fifth-place conference finishes. They once again trailed the top triumvirate of Houston (12-0 SEC), Southland (10-2) and Mabel-Canton (8-4) but this year, for the first time, placed ahead of fifth-place GMLOK (4-8). Meanwhile, Lyle/Pacelli (2-9) and Schaeffer Academy (0-12) languished at the bottom of the league ladder. Alden-Conger/Glenville-Emmons competed in a different conference this year.
There were a couple of close calls but no SEC upsets for the Lions, who lost all six games
against the top three and won all five versus the bottom three.
In non-conference action, the girls went 1-1 versus Class A clubs, defeating Hayfield and losing to Lewiston-Altura. In non-conference against larger Class AA competition, the Lions went 1-2 with a victory over Fillmore Central/Lanesboro while falling to Rushford-Peterson and Goodhue. Adding in the two SEC wins over GMLOK, Spring Grove had a commendable winning 3-2 record versus Class AA squads.
The 2026 Lions, among 13 teams, received the No. 10 section seed and for the second
consecutive season traveled to Mabel-Canton for postseason play. It was a competitive playoff
clash with Spring Grove falling 3-2 to the No. 7 Cougars, despite out-hitting the higher seed, 6 to 3.
The most statistical progress was made in pitching. For the first time in the modern era, Lion
hurlers recorded more strikeouts (207) than walks (135), a 1.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio and 1.9
strikeouts per inning. In other words, nearly two out of every three opponent outs came with
strikeouts.
There was a 3.40 team earned run average, a major improvement from the 6.53 and 6.22 of the previous two years. That was also significantly better than the opponents’ 4.76 ERA, but
opposing pitchers did have a better 2.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Most responsible for program pitching progress was eighth grader Claire Sherburne, who was in the pitcher’s circle for 104 of the 107 innings pitched. She upped her career strikeout count to 327, averaging 1.7 strikeouts per inning. In 2026, she fanned 206 opposing batters.
At the plate as a team, Spring Grove batted .251, after previous back-to-back .247 seasons. The 2026 opponents batted only .183. The Lions averaged 6.2 runs per game, the opponents 5.5. Despite out-hitting and outscoring the opposition, the girls still lost a few more games than they won. The difference came during the closest games. The Lions lost all four close games, those decided by four or fewer runs. There were three one-run losses, all on the road: 9-8 at No. 2 section seed Southland, 2-1 in 12 innings at Class AA Goodhue and 3-2 at Mabel-Canton. Spring Grove had the most base hits in two of those three losses, and the hit count was even in the third.
There was also a 5-1 close loss versus Mabel-Canton.
Those four contests, plus the rainout versus lowly L/P, greatly determined on which side of .500 the Lions landed. In games decided by five to nine runs, SG went 4-3; in blowouts with double-digit margins, the Lions were 3-3.
On defense, the 2026 Lions averaged 2.0 errors per game, slightly better than the previous year’s 2.1. But the opponents showed significant improvement with only 1.6 miscues per contest after 2.3 the previous spring.
Numbers were down with only 10 players on the varsity roster, half of which were junior-high
age - three eighth graders and a pair seventh graders. There were no seniors or sophomores; there were three juniors and two freshmen. Therefore, there was no B-team/JV, but there was a young junior high team with one additional eighth grader, two seventh graders and six sixth graders. All the youth in 2026 should pay dividends in 2027 and beyond.
The emphasis of this article is on team achievement and statistics. Accomplishments by
individual players will be featured in upcoming all-conference and team-award coverage.

05/20/2026

Cougars Avoid Section Softball Upset, Edge Lions, 3-2
By Lee Epps
Number 7 seed Mabel-Canton eluded a section tournament upset by slipping past No. 10 seed
Spring Grove, 3-2, on May 18 at Loren Hawks Field in Mabel. The third time was not the charm
for the Lions, but there was progress at the plate. After only two hits in a previous 7-2 loss at the same site and then managing only one hit in an ensuing 6-1 home setback, the Grove batters had six hits, twice as many as the Cougars, in the postseason rematch.
There were no extra-base hits all game, but the Lions had the two hardest-hit singles - a sizzling ground ball over the third base bag by Jada Strinmoen and liner to left field by Claire Sherburne.
Mabel-Canton (12-9) advanced to the second round for a third shot at No. 2 seed Southland
(16-2). In this single-elimination opening round, the season ended for Spring Grove (7-10).
Winning pitcher, senior Tylar Wenthold, struck out 11 and walked only two while allowing one
earned run. For the Lions, eighth grade hurler Sherburne fanned 14 while issuing seven free
passes. Each team played with only one error, but each miscue figured into scoring for the
opponent. Only one run was an earned run.
The three leading hitters were all eighth graders; Lion Sherburne and Cougar Sadie Tollefsrud
each batted 2 for 3 with a run batted run (RBI) while Lion Addison Rask also went 2 for 3. That
trio accounted for six of the nine total hits.
The only other Cougar hit also came from an eighth grader, Tori Snyder (1 for 3). Other Spring
Grove hits came from junior infielders Brinley Middendorf (1 for 3) and Jada Strinmoen (1 for
4).
The first Cougar batter Ella Halverson reached base on an error and later scored the first run of the game. In the second inning, two walks, a passed ball and a Tollefsrud RBI single added two runs to make it 3-0. But it would not be a Cougar cake-walk. There would be no more Lion
errors and only one more Mabel-Canton hit.
Spring Grove put two hits together in back-to-back innings but only scored in one. Three Lions
were left on base in a scoreless fourth frame. Aided by an error, two hits and a sacrifice bunt by Jadyn Sherburne, the Lions tallied two unearned runs in the fifth.
The Cougars threatened to pad their lead in the sixth with two runners on base, but with two outs, Lion seventh-grade centerfielder Kallyn Morken made a sprinting, shoe-top catch, easily the defensive play of the day.
However, the day ended three batters later with Wenthold posting three straight, seventh-inning strikeouts. Including the pair of previous five-run decisions this season, Mabel-Canton has extended its winning streak versus Spring Grove to six.

05/18/2026

Spring Grove Closes Regular Season with 12-Inning Loss at Goodhue
By Lee Epps
Spring Grove closed the softball regular season with 2-1 walk-off loss in a classic 12-inning
pitchers’ duel at larger Class AA Goodhue on May 16. With their fourth straight win, the
Wildcats improved to 12-9 while the Lions left a game below .500 at 7-9. Spring Grove finished
5-6 in conference action, right in the middle, fourth among seven teams.
Only hours later, Spring Grove received the No. 10 seed among the 13 teams who head into the
Section 1A Tournament. The Lions will be on the road, taking on No. 7 seed Mabel-Canton
(11-9) for the third time this season.
At Goodhue, Lion eighth grader pitcher Claire Sherburne achieved her 300th strikeout in the
second inning. Over the 12 innings, she fanned 18 batters, walked seven and hit two batters. A
pair of Goodhue hurlers combined to strike out 19 and walk only three.
The marathon finale at Goodhue ended with a lead-off single by Lola Christianson (1 for 5) and a Spring Grove error, the only unearned run of the day. The Wildcats played a dozen innings with no errors. The Lions, with some outstanding defensive plays, dodged a few potentially game-ending bullets and played the first nine innings without error, but eventually could not overcome an error in each of the last three innings.
The Lions had seven hits to six for Goodhue, all singles. Spring Grove Junior Brinley
Middendorf was the leading hitter of the evening, going 3 for 5 while seventh grader Kallyn
Morken went 2 for 4. Sherburne (1 for 5) and freshman Brailyn Gulbranson (1 for 3) also hit
safely.
Morken, in centerfield, twice snuffed out Wildcat threats to win the game during regulation.
Leading 1-0 in the sixth inning with one out, Goodhue had a runner on third base. Morken
caught a fly ball and then fired the ball to catcher Izabel Kaufmann, who tagged out the runner
attempting to score. That inning-ending double play came right before Spring Grove scored the tying run.
Goodhue had grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fifth, the only inning during which the home team had
managed two hits. The Wildcats were one out away from victory when Spring Grove scored in
the top of the seventh, the only inning during which the Lions had two hits. Middendorf singled
and following a walk to Addison Rask, scored on an RBI-single into right field by Gulbranson.

But again, in the bottom of the seventh, the ‘Cats almost won it without extra innings. With two
outs and a Goodhue runner on base, Morken made diving catch in center field. And it was on to the first of an eventual five extra innings.
Not to be overlooked was another clutch defensive play. In the first inning, the first Wildcat
batter of the game, Aubrey Christianson (2 for 5), singled and stole second. With two outs, she
attempted to swipe third as well, but Kaufmann threw her out with the tag applied by
Middendorf.
The Wildcats again threatened to end the game in the ninth with the bases full and only one out, but Sherburne extinguished that threat with a strikeout for out number two and then grabbed a batted ball out of the air for the third out.
Goodhue left a runner on third base again in the 10th inning (walk, error) and then stranded two runners (error, walk) in the 11th before finally plating the winner with no outs in the 12th (single, error).
In extra innings, Spring Grove batters had some success against reliever Grace Ludwig, who
struck out nine and walked no one. There was a single in the ninth inning and again in the 11th
and the 12th, but down the stretch, no Lion advanced past first base. Overall, Spring Grove left
six runners on base; Goodhue stranded twice that many (12).
It might have been the most-extended game in program history. A couple of games in 1984 were marked “extra innings” without noting how many. In the three-year-old softball series, Goodhue has won all three games against Spring Grove.

05/16/2026

Congratulations to eighth grader Claire Sherburne on reaching over 300 career strike outs tonight in Goodhue! We are so proud of you!

05/14/2026

Lion Girls Scoreless Against State-Ranked Hurricanes
By Lee Epps
Spring Grove, one day after walloping a winless softball squad, faced a tougher task while
hosting undefeated state-ranked Class A No. 2 Houston on May 12. With a 10-0 run-rule win in
six innings, the league-leading Hurricanes improved to 19-0 (11-0 SEC), while the fourth-place
Lions slipped below .500 at 7-8 (5-6 SEC).
Claire Sherburne had the only Lion hit, a fourth-inning single. In the pitcher’s circle, she struck
out nine and walked four while allowing only four earned runs.
Winning pitcher Claire Frauenkron, who had tossed a 3-hitter against Spring Grove earlier in the season, gave up only one hit and walked only one batter in the rematch while striking out 12 in six innings. She was also the only batter with multiple hits, leading the Houston hit parade, going 3 for 4 at the plate on her way to scoring four runs.
The visitors wasted no time with the second batter of the game, Julia Swenson, belting a two-
RBI home run - one of four hits while the ‘Canes scored four runs before Spring Grove came to
bat. The only other extra-base hit was a fourth-inning, two-RBI triple from Kylie Stinson to
make the score, 9-0. A Lion error ushered in the tenth run to invoke the run rule in the sixth
inning. Five Spring Grove errors were costly; six of the 10 Hurricane runs were unearned.
Coupled with the earlier 12-2 win at Houston this season, the Hurricanes have won all eight
games in the series since Spring Grove reinstated a stand-alone program in 2023. Before sharing softball with Caledonia for 38 seasons, Spring Grove had a 10-2 record versus Houston (during the 1980s), so the all-time Lion-Hurricane series is now even at 10-10.
Houston also prevailed in the JV/B-team game, 9-4.

05/14/2026

Grove Girls Deal Double Header Despair to Schaeffer
By Lee Epps
The Spring Grove Lions swept through a make-up softball double header over the downtrodden Schaefer Academy Lions on May 11 at Rochester with a pair of run-rule routs, 14-3 and 13-4.
Freshman Brailyn Gulbranson, on the day, batted 6 for 7 with three triples, a double and eight
runs batted in while scoring five runs herself. Winning pitcher in both games, eighth grader
Claire Sherburne allowed only one hit and one run during seven innings in the circle while
striking out 20 batters and walking only two.
Spring Grove (7-7, 5-5 SEC) has won eight of the nine games in the series with Schaeffer (0-12, 0-12 SEC), while also extending Schaeffer’s overall losing streak to 38 games.
GAME ONE: SG 14, SA 3
Claire Sherburne pitched the first three innings, retiring all nine batters with strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Spring Grove edged ahead with one run in the first inning and then roared away with seven-run eruption in the second before adding four runs in the third. While the home team managed only two base hits (both singles), half of Spring Grove’s 14 hits went for extra-bases with three triples and four doubles.
Gulbranson (triple, 3 RBIs) and seventh grader Kallyn Morken (triple, double, 2 RBIs) each
batted 3 for 4. There were two hits each from seventh grader Jadyn Sherburne (triple, RBI),
junior Izabel Kaufmann (double, 2 RBIs) and Claire Sherburne (double, 2 RBIs). Eighth grader
Addison Rask and junior Jada Strinmoen each added a two-bagger.
GAME TWO: SG 13, SA 4
With Spring Grove being the home team in the nightcap, Schaeffer lead-off batter Blythe Morgan opened the game with a home run over the right field fence. She later singled, accounting for the only two Schaffer hits. While pitching the first four innings, Claire Sherburne achieved 11 of the 12 outs with strikeouts (only two walks).
Spring Grove quickly took the lead with two runs without a hit (three walks, one hit batter) in the first inning before the bats added two runs (3 hits, no charity) in the second inning. The Grove girls scored in each of their four total times at bat, most notably a five-run rally in the third inning.
Again, the Grove girls hit with power with six of their eight hits going for extra bases - four
triples and two doubles. Gulbranson went 3 for 3 with a pair of three-baggers plus a double while driving in five runs. One triple each came from Kaufmann (1 for 2) and Claire Sherburne (1 for 2) while Strinmoen (1 for 4) doubled.
There was some charity; no SG batter struck out while there were nine walks. Kallyn Morken
had little opportunity to hit while receiving three free passes, Brinley Middendorf with two
walks.

05/08/2026

Love going to the Nursing Home and playing Whiffle Ball for the residence with the baseball team on a beautiful day! 🥎⚾️

05/07/2026

Three Home Runs Highlight Softball Demolition of Bulldogs
By Lee Epps
The Spring Grove girls belted three home runs, two by eighth grader Claire Sherburne and one from freshman Brailyn Gulbranson, all during only four innings while invoking the 15-run rule on the way to an 18-2 demolition of visiting GMLOK (Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Kingsland) on May 5. It was a battle for fourth place, won by the Lions (5-7, 3-5 SEC) who now lead the fifth-place Bulldogs (5-9, 3-6 SEC) by a half game.
With Sherburne (3 for 3) also contributing a double and another two-bagger from freshman Braelyn Middendorf (1 for 3), more than half (5 of 9) of Spring Grove’s base hits went for extra bases. Spring Grove scored 18 runs on nine hits, aided by a dozen walks and three Bulldog errors. The Lions defended without an error.
Sherburne scored three runs with an amazing seven runs-batted-in. Gulbranson had 2 RBIs as did eighth grader Addison Rask (1 for 1). Gulbranson also stole two bases, and Rask swiped one. Jada Strinmoen went 2 for 2 with an RBI and had two stolen bases. The first two Lion batters of the game drew walks and would score on Sherburne’s one-out double.
In the pitcher’s circle, Sherburne (7 K, 9 W) tossed a 2-hitter. Both the double by Jaylee Hagstrom and an RBI-single by Macy Runck came in the same two-run inning as the visitors tied the score, 2-2, in the second inning.
The Lions regained the lead with an eight-run rampage in the third. In the next inning, the Grove girls scored another eight runs without an out. It all ended with the 15-run, four-inning rule when Sherburne executed her second fence-clearing clout. It was her sixth home run in 12 games this season.
Spring Grove had prevailed previously this season, 8-2, at Spring Valley, and with the season sweep, have a 3-4 record in the series versus larger Class AA GMLOK. In junior high action, the Bulldogs won 11-9 in the season finale for the Lion junior high girls.

Spring Grove Softball

06/08/2026

05/29/2026

05/25/2026

05/20/2026

05/18/2026

05/16/2026

05/14/2026

05/14/2026

05/08/2026

05/07/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category