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Tribune Notebook: Willmar Cardinals' football schedule looks familiar

tom elliott, west central tribune, willmar, minn.
·3 min read

May 24—WILLMAR — The 2024 Willmar Cardinals football schedule officialy has been released and it looks a whole like the one in 2023.

The difference is that all of last year's home games are on the road and the road games will be at Hodapp Field this year.

Last year's schedule was one of the most difficult n recent memory for the Cards. They competed in the Skyway Green District, which included four teams: Becker (9-1), Rocori (10-3), Hutchinson (11-2) and Willmar (2-7). Hutchinson won the state Class AAAA title by beating Rocori 14-6 Nov. 24 at U.S. Bank Stadium. Rocori qualified for state by beating Becker 30-21 in the section final, handing the Bulldogs their first loss of the season. And, the non-district games really aren't much easier with perennial powers Marshall and Totino-Grace.

The 2024 schedule:

Friday, Aug. 30 — Big Lake

Friday, Sept. 6 — at Marshall

Friday, Sept. 13 — Princeton

Friday, Sept. 20 — at Becker

Friday, Sept. 27 — Rocori

Friday, Oct. 4 — at Hutchinson

Friday, Oct. 11 — at Chisago Lakes

Wednesday, Oct. 16 — Totino-Grace.

All games are scheduled for 7 p.m. starts. The Rocori game is Willmar's homecoming.

Two Willmar athletes have earned Central Lakes Conference Perfomer of the Week honors.

Cardinal baseball player Tyler Madsen after earning two pitching victories. The sophomore went 13 innings, striking out nine and giving up four runs.

Cardinal boys tennis player Ryan Newberg also was honored. Willmar's No. 1 singles player earned victories over Sauk Rapids and Fergus Falls.

The Willmar baseball team earned the No. 2 seed in the Section 8AAA playoffs.

The Cardinals (11-8) play host to No. 7 Detroit Lakes (6-11) at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Klemmetson Field.

If Willmar wins, it would play the winner of No. 3 Little Falls (14-6) and No. 6 Fergus Falls (7-13) on Friday at Klemmetson.

Alexandria (12-8) earned the top seed and receives a first-round bye. Alex plays the winner of No. 4 Rocori (11-9) and No. 5 Hutchinson (10-10).

It's a double-elimination tournament. The losers' bracket games being Friday. Semifinal winners play in the championship bracket beginning Tuesday, June 4 at the St. Cloud Municipal Athletic Complex with games set for Thursday, June 6 at the MAC as needed.

Needless to say, it's a wide-open section.

The Ridgewater softball team, under the direction of first-year head coach Callie Danielson, had five players earn All-Minnesota College Athletic Conference South Division honors. They are shortstop Kaydence Roeske and centerfielder Shakira Olson on the first team and Alli Malmgren, Jasmine Knick and Ella Flick on the second team.

Roeske is a freshman from Melrose. She batted .500 (39 of 78) with eight doubles, six triples and three home runs in 23 games, driving 26 runs and scoring 36. She stole 18 bases.

Olson, a freshman from Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, batted .512 (42 of 82) with 13 doubles, six triples and seven home runs in 23 games. She scored 31 runs and had 32 RBIs with 16 stolen bases.

Malmgren, a freshman from St. James, batted .471 (33 of 70) with 16 doubles, 22 RBIs, 25 runs and nine stolen bases.

Knick, a sophomore from Glencoe-Silver Lake, batted .316 (24 of 76) with two doubles, a triple, 16 runs, 16 RBIs and four stolen bases. She also pitched 92 innings, striking 67 and walking 28. She posted a 7-7 record with a 6.54 earned-run average.

Flick, a freshman from Hutchinson, batted .406 (26 of 64) with four doubles, a triple and three home runs. She scorred 19 runs and drove in 20 with seven stolen bsaes.

Ridgewater went 9-14, taking third in its division and qualifying for regional play for the first time in a while.