“Anoka’s a great team, they’ve had a great year. They played great defense all year and they’re a scrappy team,” Forest Lake coach Sean Collin Hall said. “Luckily we had the big hits when we needed them. Avery Muellner pitched a great game for us and things fell into place.”

Hall said the biggest difference between the quarterfinal win and tonight’s win was Muellner’s performance in the circle. 

“Pitching-wise Avery started the other game and I thought she pitched much better today,” he said. “She threw harder and was very, very confident.” 

Muellner said a pregame message from an assistant coach was a key to her success today. “My coach Mike Perry told me the plate is mine and that really helped me,” she said. She owned the plate for all seven innings, as she picked up eight strikeouts over the course of the shutout. Muellner said she was able to attack each Anoka’s hitters’ weakness after seeing them just a few days ago. 

Brianya Thies and Paige Schultz picked up a hit apiece for the Tornadoes (16-9, 8-5). Muellner also hit Abby Dusterhoft with a pitch. No other base runners got on without the help of errors. Muellner was given plenty of run support from all over the lineup. Leadoff hitter Bethany Weiss and No. 3 hitter Gace Frechette combined to finish 5-for-7 with a home run, four RBI and two runs scored. 

The bottom of the order was even more prolific, as the Nos. 7-8-9 combo of Bailey Thomas, Maddie Muellner and Amber Dunaski combined to hit 6-for-8 with 4 RBI and four runs scored. “The top of the order has been hitting all year, and this was the best production we’ve had from the bottom all year,” Hall said. 

Maddie Muellner had a miscommunication with a teammate that resulted in a fly ball dropping early in the game, but it didn’t shake her confidence. 

“I always have confidence in my team, so knowing that even if I make a mistake my team will be able to bounce back and cover that for me, it helps me bounce back,” she said.

She didn’t need her teammates to pick her up, as she was able to do it herself. Her next two at bats were a home run and then a triple, resulting in three runs and blowing the game open. The Rangers will now get ready to head to Caswell Park in North Mankato for the state tournament next week, which is a venue they’re familiar with. The Rangers fell to Rosemount 5-1 in last year’s championship game. 

“They’ve been there before, they’ve done it before so we know the drill,” Hall said. “We’ll practice tomorrow and be ready to go.”