Photo by Jake Olson: Fairmont softball pitcher Lexi Sundeen gears to throw during the third inning of Tuesday afternoon's game against Jackson County Central at Cardinal Park. Sundeen tossed all seven innings for Fairmont.

FAIRMONT – Jackson County Central softball proved to everyone at Cardinal Park why they wear the title of No. 4 team in Minnesota High School’s Class AA rankings.

Mady Wachal picked up 15 of her team’s 21 outs with her arm while the Huskie offense put up crooked numbers in the first two innings, guiding Tuesday afternoon’s 15-3 victory over Fairmont. The Cardinals move to 14-5 on the season and have lost consecutive games for the first time this spring.

“They have good pitching. They have good hitting. They don’t have a lot of holes over there,” Fairmont softball head coach Cory Hainy said on the Huskies. “They are that good for a reason.”

Fairmont pitcher Lexi Sundeen got the task of taming the powerful Huskie offense. Unfortunately for her, the JCC bats showed their skillset early and often in the opening two frames. Bailey Fink got the party started after her double sent home teammate Cora Pauling from second base.

Hadley Wachal’s infield grounder fell through the hands of Brylee Miller at shortstop to keep the inning going two batters later. The extra opportunity was fully taken advantage of with the Huskies No. 8 and No. 9 hole hitters, Braelyn Boogerd and Kelcie Sillman, who each picked up a two-RBI base knock that capped off the six-run inning.

JCC continued to use Fairmont’s defensive mishaps to score more runs in the second. Hadley Wachal’s hard-hit grounder couldn’t be contained by Avery Kurt down the third base line, scoring Fink from her spot on second base with nobody out.

The Huskies tacked on three more runs to balloon their advantage to 10-0. Fairmont stopped the bleeding on a nice defensive play after Sillman’s second RBI hit of the game. Miller connected with Kurt at third to swipe the advancing freshman. But the damage was already done.

“We helped them a ton at the beginning of the game and have to play better defense,” Hainy said. “I told the girls that we can’t play defense like that against the better teams. You give them extra outs, and they’re going to punish us. And that’s what they did.”

Sundeen found a rhythm after her initial rocky start. She went through the batting order cleanly in the third, fourth and fifth innings, giving up just four hits and striking out a pair of batters.

The Cardinal offense responded to their pitcher settling in with their own punch in the third. Brooklyn Stone collected her lone hit of the afternoon to lead off the lineup. Two batters later, Gwyneth Schultz brought in her teammate with a hard-hit triple deep into center field.

Miller collected her lone RBI of the night and second hit of the day after pulling the ball into right field to give her team some more life. However, this is when Mady Wachal began to truly show her skills in the circle.

Strikeouts from Sundeen and Bria Williamson didn’t just prevent any more scoring from Fairmont in the third. It was the start of something far greater. Mady Wachal struck out the side during the next two innings of offense from the Cardinals, collecting her then 12th strikeout and keeping opposing hitters neutralized.

“Mady has pitched against us both times we’ve seen her, and she throws really hard,” Hainy said.

JCC’s bottom of their batting order remained a constant for success in the sixth. Boogerd and Sillman capped off their afternoon with RBI’s, a single, and a sacrifice flyout, to push the Huskies up 12-2.

Kurt helped pick up Fairmont’s final score of the night in the home half of the frame. Miller and Sundeen led off the inning with a single and a walk. Williamson moved both runners over with a slow grounder up the middle before another fielder’s choice grounder from Kurt brought home a run.

Fink, Brielle Tufvesson and Miley VanDeVere added three more runs for JCC with RBI hits in the seventh. The Huskies finished the game with 16 hits compared to Fairmont’s five. Four of Sundeens 15 runs allowed were documented as earned, as the Cardinals recorded seven errors in seven innings.

Fairmont will take on Martin County West this Friday in the final regular-season game of the 2026 spring season. First pitch at Fox Lake Area Sports Complex is set to start at 4:30 p.m. The Mavericks boast a 19-1 record on the year.