Three Minnesota West players earn softball honors

Three Minnesota West softball players have been named to the 2026 Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC) South All-Division Team.

Earning first-team recognition for the Lady Jays was Hannah McNab, a freshman shortstop from Worthington. McNab had a .429 batting average in 16 games while driving in 14 runs and scoring 12 times.

Receiving second-team honors were Payton Reimers, a freshman infielder from Lakefield, and Jayda Hellewell, a sophomore outfielder from Balaton. Reimers had statistics nearly identical to McNab's in three areas, as she hit .408 with 14 RBIs and 12 runs scored. Hellewell batted .383 on the season, scored 16 runs and drove in eight.

In addition to her MCAC South Division honors, McNab was also selected to the NJCAA Division 3 All-Region13 softball team.

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In Wednesday high school boys tennis, it was Mankato West topping visiting Worthington 7-0.

Two of the day's seven matches went three sets. At No. 4 singles, Worthington's Christian Miranda was defeated 6-3, 2-6, 10-5. At No. 3 doubles, the Trojans' Kade Place and Brayden Soderholm were outlasted 5-7, 6-2, 6-1. The next closest match was at No. 3 singles, where Coltin Olmanson was beaten 6-4, 6-3.

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Worthington and New Ulm played five innings of competitive baseball, but the visiting Eagles exploded for eight runs in the sixth and went on to defeat the Trojans 17-5 Thursday.

New Ulm took a 1-0 edge in the first, but a bases-loaded walk to Dom Larson tied the score in the bottom of that inning. The Eagles then went up 2-1 in the second, but WHS got an infield single from Dom Pavelko and a double to deep left-center from Austin Gruis to knot things up in the third.

The Eagles edged ahead 3-2 in the fourth, then scored three times in the fifth to grab a 6-2 advantage. Another Gruis double, a base hit from Brayden Raymo and an RBI fielder's choice grounder from Larson put the score at 6-3. Then, however, came New Ulm's big sixth inning, which included a three-run homer by Carson Boe. 

Talen Turner tossed the first 3 2/3 innings for Worthington and took the pitching loss. Pavelko and Raymo each had two singles for the Trojans, who are now 2-11 overall. Christian Daily contributed a double.

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In high school softball Thursday, Worthington was on the road at New Ulm and was beaten 15-4. The Trojans are now 0-14 this spring.