“I took away from it the resiliency,” Nicollet head coach Marc Bode said. “They didn’t quit, they just kept fighting. They made some mistakes, we gave them some runs. But they battled. They didn’t quit. We talked before that last inning to keep going, keep grinding, we’ve been working our butts off hitting the ball hard to all fields, and just taking that balanced approach and having a plan when we go up to hit. We seem to struggle against these slower pitchers, and we’ll just keep working on it.”

Nicollet’s Lydia Martens started the rally, singling as the leadoff hitter as the Raiders found themselves down 3-2.

“I think the most important part was our coaches,” Martens said. “They first of all talked to me right before the inning started and they pulled me to the side, and they were like, ‘Give me everything you’ve got, all the muscle you have, everything you’ve done at practice, just put it all in there.’ And I had that thought, I was staring at the ball — it was going a little high, but I just really wanted to crush it.”

After Martens, Taylor Wilking and Kamryn Truebenbach both reached on errors to load the bases as Nicollet got their seventh, eighth and ninth batters in the order on base.

Staff photo by Ari Selvey Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s pitcher Natalie Zarn (6) throws the ball to catcher Sydney Tauer to get the out on Nicollet’s Madison Kettner (11) at home plate during a Tomahawk-Valley Conference crossover softball game on Friday at Kiefer Park in Sleepy Eye.

“It’s huge,” coach Bode said. “The bottom of our order is really fast … It just set the table so we could get creative with the next hitters. We could hit, we could bunt, just put people in motion, which is good because they’re all really, really quick. It’s huge having those bottom people up to bring it on for your leadoff hitter. And she came up really clutch.”

Chloe Kachelmeier cleared the bases with a triple for her first hit of the game, putting the Raiders up 5-3.

“I just knew everyone was on base, it was full bases,” Kachelmeier said. “I knew I had to get a hit to get everyone home. I was excited to hit it.”

The team came together defensively in the bottom of the inning, as while St. Mary’s loaded the bases with one out, a flyout to left field and a quick relay hope got the tagging runner out, ending the game and sealing the victory, redeeming themselves for early defensive mistakes.

“We really wanted to work on our family mentality,” Martens said. “We wanted to work together. I think us knowing that we wanted to be there together and win it together, it kind of brought it all together in the end.”

Kachelmeier agreed that the team rallied around each other late on the defense.

“It was definitely our mentality,” she said. “Definitely all of the cheering, we were always uplifting ourselves. No one was down on ourselves, we were always cheering ourselves on.”

Leah Bode earned the win for Nicollet, striking out seven while allowing two earned runs on seven hits and six walks in the game. At the plate, Jazmyn Goettlicher was 2 for 2 with an RBI and Kachelmeier had a triple and three RBIs. Bode had a double and a run scored, and Martens and Wilking each had a hit and a run scored.

Natalie Zarn took the loss for St. Mary’s, striking out three while allowing two earned runs on six hits and two walks. At the plate, Nell Weiss was 2 for 3 with a double and an RBI, while Rivers Helget was 2 for 3 with an RBI. Reese Hoffmann had a hit and two runs scored.

After a hitless first inning, St. Mary’s got a run on the board in the second as Hoffmann reached home on an error put into play by Olivia Schieffert. Two more scoreless innings followed before Nicollet tied it up with Martens reaching first after being hit by a pitch, taking second on a single from Wilking, taking third on a fielder’s choice and scoring on a wild pitch.

St. Mary’s responded with a two-run fifth inning, with Hoffmann singling and then scoring on a double from Weiss. Weiss advanced to third on a wild pitch, then took home on a single from Helget.

Nicollet scored once in the top of the sixth, with a hit from Leah Bode coming inches away from a home run, hitting the top of the outfield fence, but she was held up at second instead. Leah Bode didn’t have to wait long, as a single from Goettlicher brought her home.

Leah Bode collected two strikeouts in the sixth as part of a 1-2-3 inning, setting the stage for the Raiders’ big seventh, to take the lead. St. Marys’ Sydney Tauer and Schieffert both drew walks and Weiss had a single to load the bases, but a flyout to right field and the relay home for a double play ended the game on the tag from Goettlicher.

Nicollet (4-3) travels to play Waterville-Elysian-Morristown on Monday. St. Mary’s (2-7) plays a doubleheader at Wabasso on Wednesday.