Athlete of the Week - Chatfield Gophers Softball

NORTH MANKATO, Minn. (KTTC) – The Chatfield Gophers are state champions. On Friday, Chatfield upset top-seeded Proctor 3-2 -- to capture their first softball state title in school history.

“It’s insane,” said pitcher Claire Springer. “I’m so grateful. I’m so proud of our team and how far we’ve come.”

The Gophers were the underdogs every step of the way. They earned a two-seed in the Section 1AA tournament -- and then only received the 3-seed at state. They say, that took all the stress out of their postseason run.

“We just said, ‘We don’t have the pressure on ourselves,’” said Peyton Berg, “‘If we lose, we’re the lower seed, they’re the higher seed. It happens.’”

The only thing is -- it didn’t. Chatfield survived the elimination bracket in the section playoffs and then rattled off three wins for a state title.

“I feel like it’s awesome,” said short stop Jaiden Peterson. “Being a small town, it’s so cool to have all this recognition for our town and making everybody proud.”

It was a good year to be from the Chosen Valley. The Gophers won the Prep Bowl in the fall, and then the softball state title in the spring.

“Our principal once said, as a joke, he goes ‘We’ll win another state tournament because our football team won a state tournament.” It just feels amazing that we were able to do that,” Berg said.

“Apparently it was Chatfield’s year to go to state. We have everyone; track, speech, and extracurriculars,” Springer said. “It’s just awesome.”

Now, the softball team has eternal glory -- and a bond to last a lifetime.

“We’re like a family almost,” said Berg. “We know what we’re thinking. We spend a lot of time together. they’re my best friends, most of them, so I love them all. They’re amazing.”

The Chatfield Gophers softball team is this week’s KTTC Athlete of the Week.

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