Softball: Owen sparks Warriors’ offense in win (2025)

BRAINERD — Ruthie Owen will score many runs as a Brainerd Warrior, but the first of her freshman season will hopefully open the floodgates for the rest of this year.

The second-year varsity player went 3-for-3 with a double and a run scored to lead the Warriors to a 3-1 victory Friday, April 11, over the Owatonna Huskies.

Owen led off the second inning with a single and stole second base. Macy Goral walked and Callie Skoglnd reached on an error to load the bases.

Fellow freshman Keira Rademacher hit a troublesome blooper to right field that was caught, but allowed Owen to tag up and score from third base for a 1-0 lead.

Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

“It felt good to get on base and trust my teammates to put me in and score a run,” Owen said. “It’s just fun to hit the ball and get it going.”

Jaycee Carlson hit a grounder that was mishandled by Owatonna’s first baseman, to score two more runs and hand the Warriors a 3-0 lead.

“It was important to get some runs, but we just did a better job of putting the ball in play,” Warriors head coach Shane Jordan said. “You’re not always going to get a hit or always hit a home run, so you just need to be able to put the ball in play. We ran the bases pretty well, too.”

Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

Owatonna rallied for a run in the top of the third after Jessalyn Smith walked to lead off the inning. She moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch.

The Warriors loaded the bases in the fourth, but Mya Tautges hit her third straight ball directly at the defense to end the rally. The senior falls to 0-for-6 at the plate in the early season, but continues to overpower opponents' hitters. She struck out 14 over seven innings of work. She tossed 116 pitches with 71 going for strikes. She allowed one earned run and allowed one hit and three walks.

“Mya was better in the circle today,” Jordan said. “She knew the first few innings (Thursday), she wasn’t at her best. She got a little better as the day went on, and today, she was better again. She’s still got room to grow. Her out pitch, her changeup, was a little better today. She’s a kid who wants to get better every time.”

Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

Brainerd fell 3-0 to the St. Cloud Crush in their season-opener Thursday, April 10. The Warriors committed three errors in the opener, but just two Friday.

“Today was better than yesterday against St. Cloud,” Owen said. “I think we were a lot more excited and had each other’s backs today. We can definitely improve on certain things, but I think today was a good day. It’s a great feeling to go into the weekend with a win. We have a game on Tuesday and I’m hoping for more wins to come.”

Skoglund doubled in the fourth, but her pinch runner was called out because of runner interference. Owen added a double in the fifth, but nothing materialized for the Warriors.

Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

“I’m pretty confident,” Owen said. “My plate approach is definitely to make contact and try to get a hit. I try not to think about last year and all of my home runs (five for those counting at home). Everybody wants to hit home runs, but I just want to make contact and have good hits and be consistent with my hitting.”

Said Jordan: “We just need to continue to build confidence. We have a lot of fast kids and we need to find what role is going to fit them best and what superpower they have. As soon as we can start getting those kids on base, we can start creating more chaos.”

Kelly Humphrey / Brainerd Dispatch

JEREMY MILLSOP may be reached at 218-855-5856 or jeremy.millsop@brainerddispatch.com. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jeremymillsop .

Key: Ruthie Owen went 3-3 and scored the Warriors' first run of the season.

Overall: Brd 1-1

Next: Brainerd hosts Sauk Rapids 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 15 (2)

Covering the Brainerd lakes area sports scene for the past 23 years.