Thirty-five Henning girls participate in softball league

The Henning 10u and 12u softball teams wrapped up their first ever season of softball on July 13 in Park Rapids and July 19 in Frazee. 

A total of 12 girls from Henning participated on the 12u team. The team was coached by Mike Weller and received the seventh seed in the end of league tournament held in Park Rapids, Minn. on July 13. 

Contributed photos
Pictured above: Henning 10u Orange team members include: Front row: Klare Thalmann, Rylee Weller, Korie Koenen, Shelby Loock and Shadley Bunkowski. Back row: Morgan Mileham, Brooklyn Geyer, Emily Hanson, Kendall Koenen, Lily Grieger, Jocelyn Doll and Jacobi Saari. Below: Henning 12u team members included: Breanna Bunkowski, Addison Bode, Abigail Godding, Hallie Weller and Bella Olson. Back row: Jazmin Saari, Jalena Loder, Aubri Burmeister, Hailey Hanson and Alona Reinbold. Not pictured: Brittany and Brooke Kline. Not pictured: Henning 10u Black team members: Ivy Witt, Jolene Fosse, Ava Rousu, Stella Illif, Makaya Oehrlein, Harper Umland, Mila Umland, Abigail Jones-Bartells, Aaliyah O’Dea, Olivia DeYonge and Addison Ogle.

The Hornets opened the playoffs with a convincing 7-2 win over 10th seeded Walker-Hackensack-Akeley, before falling to second seeded Wadena-Deer Creek blue by a score of 7-2 in the quarterfinals. Henning finished its season with a record of 3-7 overall. 

There were a total of 10 teams in the 12u league including two teams from Park Rapids, Wadena-Deer Creek and New York Mills, as well as one team each from Sebeka, Nevis, WHA and Henning. 

The Henning 10u teams went a combined 8-9-3 this season. 

Despite having the smallest school in the league, the Hornets were one of just two communities to have enough participants in the program to allow it to field two 10u teams. A total of 23 girls from Henning participated in the first ever Henning 10u summer softball program. 

The Henning 10u Black team finished the regular season with a record of 4-2-2 and was seeded fourth in the nine team league. They lost their opening round game to fifth seeded Nevis by a score of 7-2. The team was coached by Dakota Aeling.

The Henning 10u Orange team finished the regular season with a record of 4-5-1 and were seeded sixth in the tournament. They opened their playoffs against third seeded New York Mills and fell by a score of 5-0. The team was coached by Chad Koenen

The 10u Orange team fell victim to a tough schedule this season as they went 1-5 against New York Mills and Frazee, while going 3-1-1 against everyone else they played in the league. 

Teams in the 10u league included two from Henning and Park Rapids, while one team each from Wadena-Deer Creek, Nevis, New York Mills, Frazee and Sebeka. 

This is the first year that Henning has fielded a summer softball team. A total of 35 girls from Henning participated in the 10u and 12u programs, which had games on either Monday or Tuesday night in June and July.

The program was made possible by a large private donation that allowed the teams to purchase their own equipment, pay for umpires, uniforms and register for the end of season tournament at no cost to any of the participants. All of the home games were held in Henning.

The coaches would like to thank the players who participated in the program this year and the parents for helping to get the participants to games each week. 

The plan is to continue the Henning summer softball 10u and 12u programs again next summer.