By Chad Koenen

Publisher

Life in the Heart O’ Lakes Conference can be a bit of a challenge for any team in just about any sport. Add to the fact that the Frazee Hornets are among the smallest in the conference and the only school in Section 6A and the 2025 softball season is shaping up to be a bit of a grind once again.

Coming off a season in which Frazee finished with a record of 5-14 overall and 3-9 in the conference, the Hornets are looking to regroup a bit with a large number of non-letter winners making up the squad. 

The Hornets will be led this season by returning letter winners Hailee Olson, Sophia Strand, Ellie Trieglaff and McKenna Wacker. While the four letter winners are all seasoned veterans at the varsity level, the Hornets will need to look to several non-letter winners to fill some key spots in the line up left by the graduation of third basemen Evie Seim, first basemen Ashley Malikowski, pitcher/short stop Riyan Eckert, utility player Brea Paurus and left fielder Rylea Sandberg. Bachmann said the Hornets who graduated last year will leave some big holes not only in the field, but offensively as well.

In order to help fill some of those gaps Frazee will look at non-letters Caleigh Pausch, Katie Courneya, Kaija Aschnewitz, Ella Ullrich, Ruby Eckert and Aubrey Ulschmid to step into the line up this season. 

As the team gears up for the heart of their conference schedule, Bachmann said the Hornets will need to be at the top of their game as they play in one of the top conferences in the state, especially after the addition of Park Rapids and Staples-Motley. Add to the fact that the Hornets play in Class A for the playoffs, yet play in a predominantly Class AA conference, and it is setting up for a challenging schedule that will test them from the opening pitch of the season. 

“We are in one of the toughest conferences and with the additions of Park Rapids and Staples-Motley, it got even tougher. We know we have the potential and the passion to have a successful season,” she said.

In fact, Bachmann said the conference is so competitive it would be difficult to even pick a preseason favorite as any team could have a chance to win the conference on any given day. 

“Our entire conference is tough – at any given day it could be many teams turn at the conference championship. With last year being our first year in Section 6A and us seeing more AA teams throughout the season, it is hard for us to identify section favorites, but we know we will need to be ready to compete and we are ready for the challenge and what our regular season will prepare us for,” she said. 

Last weekend the Hornets went 1-2 in their annual home tournament as they picked up a win over Mahnomen/Waubun by a score of 11-9, but fell to Sebeka 17-0 and Roseau by a score of 13-2. 

Bachmann said the team is eager for the season to get in full swing and get back in the diamond again. 

“We are excited for the season and ready for the fields to ready to get out on them and get some games under our belt. We have positions to fill and we have lots of girls that can fill that—we are ready,” she said.