Park softball: 'Pack earns No. 4 seed, first round bye

• Ashley Kluever

Park senior pitcher Ashley Kluever and the Wolfpack softball team earned the fourth seed and an opening round bye in the upcoming Section 3AAA playoffs.

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The Park softball team earned the fourth seed and an opening round bye in the upcoming Section 3AAA playoffs. The Wolfpack will face the winner of No. 5 seed Apple Valley and No. 12 Henry Sibley on Wednesday, May 20 at Lexington-Diffley Park in Roseville.

Burnsville, which is ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, earned the section’s top seed, while Rosemount and Eagan were seeded second and third, respectively. Rosemount is ranked No. 2 and Eagan is ranked No. 7.

Park (15-5; 11-3 Suburban East Conference) finished in second place in the conference standings behind Hastings (13-2; 13-1 SEC) and ended the year by winning 11 of its last 12 games, including five in a row.

This week, Park — which isn’t ranked in the top 10 — defeated Stillwater 3-0 on Wednesday, May 13 in its final home game before winning 4-2 at White Bear Lake 4-2 on Thursday, May 14 in the regular-season finale.

In the win over White Bear Lake, Wolfpack junior pitcher Mackenzie Zavoral earned her fourth win of the season and Ashley Kluever earned the save — entering the game in the sixth inning with two runners on and striking out the side.

Park scored all of its four runs in the fourth inning, with the big hit coming from senior Kelsey Johnson. Johnson hit a two-run double to give the Wolfpack a 2-1 lead. Taylor LeMay and Sam Armstrong also added RBIs in the inning.

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