NORTH MANKATO – The acrobatics have to wait. For now, head-turning will do.

Forest Lake advanced to the Class 3A softball championship game with a pair of victories Thursday at Caswell Park. The Rangers knocked off previously unbeaten Totino-Grace 4-3 in the quarterfinals, then got by North St. Paul 3-1.

Forest Lake’s six losses were the most among the eight teams in the Class 3A field.

“We had the worst record, we knew that,” coach Angie Ryan said. “This team has grown more than any other team I’ve had. It’s taken some time, but we’ve developed into a solid team.”

Against Totino-Grace, Rangers pitcher Taylor Burmeister wasn’t helped much as Forest Lake made three infield errors resulting in a 3-0 deficit after just a half an inning.

But things turned from there.

Forest Lake answered with two runs in its half of the first, then took the lead with two more in the bottom of the third.

That set up an immediate semifinal date with the Polars — who defeated Brainerd in the quarters — with little rest because both schools needed to return home for graduation ceremonies.

It marked the third consecutive year the two teams met in the state tournament. North St. Paul had won the past two, but not Thursday.

Forest Lake couldn’t wait to get started. “We wanted it that way,” Burmeister said of the short rest. “All of our energy carried on. It made it better. The adrenaline was there.”

The Rangers scored all of their runs in the third inning without hitting the ball out of the infield. Burmeister was dialed in and held the Polars at bay, striking out three.

Shortly after the last out was recorded, a Rangers reserve player did a cartwheel down the third base line. That’s usually a celebratory move for Ryan — who was a senior on Forest Lake’s state championship runner-up team in 2000. But she told the players her turn to twirl would have to wait.

“I told them when we win [Friday] it will happen,” Ryan said.

Hastings on a roll

Forest Lake will meet Hastings in the Class 3A final. The Raiders throttled Bloomington Jefferson 16-1 in the quarterfinals before cooling off Hopkins 7-2.

Hastings scored all of its runs in the first game after Jefferson had taken a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Included in that barrage was an 11-run seventh inning, a state record.

The Raiders later shut down the Royals, who defeated Shakopee 13-3 in the opening round thanks in part to four home runs.

Hastings’ inspiration for all of this? A loss to Mounds View in the third game of the season.

“Losing is the worst feeling in the world and you want to remember that and use it,” Raiders pitcher Treya Connell said.