Be Where Your Feet Are

Head coach Jamie Trachsel looked at her team as they waited out a rain delay together. The team was on day three of an action packed Hawaii spring break trip, but were finally ready to play some softball again. Meanwhile, news across the country was constantly changing as COVID-19 rocked the mainland swiftly.

"Let's just remember what we always talk about. Be where your feet are."

It's a message that Trachsel goes to often. That night it meant a little more. Even if nobody realized it at the time.

"I think the team's mindset going into the game was just to win one," Natalie DenHartog said. "We had heard a little bit about what was going on before the game, as the Ivy League had just cancelled their season. We just reminded each other to be grateful for another night and another opportunity to play."

Autumn Pease fired in the first pitch on Wednesday, March 11 at 8:20 p.m. Hawaiian time. It was already Thursday, March 12 at 1:20 a.m. back home.

"It's kind of funny knowing how late it was back home," DenHartog said. "I know a lot of fans stayed up to watch. It was just special to know that no matter what time we are playing that we have such a supportive community behind us."

Gopher fans interacted on Twitter all hours of the night. Some going to bed before the conclusion, some waking up in the middle of the night and checking Twitter and a few dedicated souls sticking around until 3:20 a.m. when the game wrapped. It would be the final game played by any Gopher sports team in the 2019-20 athletic season.

Hawaii jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, but wouldn't come close to scoring again for the remainder of the evening.

The Gophers were held quiet until the top of the fifth inning. Brooke Vander Heide reached base with her second walk of the evening. She moved to second on a wild pitch, third on a grounder and scored on a drive through the left side by DenHartog.

In the sixth inning, in what would be Katelyn Kemmetmueller's final at-bat of the 2020 season and possibly of her career, the Rogers, Minn. native blasted a game tying home run over the wall in center.

"Rounding third to see your teammates waiting is one of the best feelings," Kemmetmueller said of the moment.

While Kemmetmueller tied the game, it was only fitting that MaKenna Partain scored the game winning run. She singled to center and moved to third on an Ellee Jensen single in the seventh. DenHartog's bat stayed hot with the go-ahead RBI.

There are many questions left to be answered and nobody knows what the future holds for this year's seniors. If that was the last run ever scored by Partain, she will go down in history with an asterisk next to her name in third place all-time in school history with 185 career runs. That mark has her one shy of second and 12 away from Tyler Walker's school record 197 career runs.

One thing is certain though, in that final game of the 2020 season, the seniors came to play.

Senior All-American Amber Fiser has been as big as it gets in her Gophers career. She will go down as one of the best to ever do it and will always be known as the pitcher that led Minnesota to the Women's College World Series. She draws fans across the country, including the final game in Hawaii. After recording the win in four innings of relief with six strikeouts while just allowing one hit, a couple from Fiser's school district surprised her as she walked off the field. They were vacationing in Hawaii, got wind that the Gophers were in town and came out to watch.

Fiser gave a wide smile and took the time to catchup, like she always does. She was just living in the moment.

"It meant a lot to be able to go out there and pitch for the team," Fiser said. "My job was to go in there and do whatever I could. Get quick outs so our offense could come back in and score some runs. Never thought it could be my last game in a Minnesota uniform, but I'm glad we had fun and ended the season with a win."

The next day, all Minnesota sports teams found out that the remainder of the athletic season would be cancelled. There was shock and tears for the softball squad followed by memories. It was actually a senior to breakup the sadness. The always humorous Vander Heide remembered what her last at-bat was going to go down as.

You see, Vander Heide started the seventh with what looked to be a single to the outfield but rounded first too hard, tripped and was tossed out at first. The problem is the box score wouldn't remember it as a single and an out, as the umpire called Vander Heide out for stepping out of the box. It will be written in history as one out, but poor Brooke Vander Heide was called out twice in one play, potentially her final play.

"Sums up my career pretty well," Vander Heide joked about the moment. "I still count it as a hit my heart so that's a personal victory."

It stings now, but eventually those memories will be what brings the Gophers back together stronger than ever. It was a shortened 2020 season, but it was full of special moments and for one more night the Gophers got to be where their feet were.

"Honestly, I will always just remember that our seniors played very well." DenHartog said. "I just have so must admiration for our senior class."

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Players Mentioned

Natalie DenHartog

Amber Fiser

Ellee Jensen

Katelyn Kemmetmueller

MaKenna Partain

Autumn Pease

Brooke Vander Heide