Travis Rosenau

SLEEPY EYE – While the Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s Knights’ unbeaten dream season came to an end a win away from the state tournament, it didn’t take away the memories and many accomplishments the team shared throughout the season.

After defeating New Ulm Cathedral twice in the regular season and once in the Section 2A semifinals, the Greyhounds got payback out of the elimination bracket by defeating the Knights twice in the Section 2A finals to advance to the Class A State Softball Tournament.

“My first couple thoughts after, I think it was almost surreal, to be honest,” Lacey Mathiowetz said of the season-ending loss. “It was just a tough blow for a lack of better words. Bouncing back from it, though, just recognizing it was a great season and it sadly didn’t end the way we wanted it, too, but it doesn’t diminish the fact that we were unbeaten to that point.

“I think even though it was a tough ending, our team was still really solid. We did amazing things and I’m just going to have to remember how much fun it was to be a part of that team. We were a strong force and I will always remember the never-giving-up mentality we had up until that last night. It was just so good to be a part of it.”

Lacey Mathiowetz, who ended her senior year with a 1.19 ERA and 160 strikeouts in 111 1/3 innings of work, was named the unanimous All-Journal Softball Player of the Year as voted on by The Journal’s sports staff.

While a season highlight for Lacey Mathiowetz was topping Cathedral in the Section 2A semifinals and proving the Knights were deserving of being where they were at, she credited the Greyhounds for their comeback at the end of the section tournament. She also said she’s played in the summer on the Sleepy Eye ASA team with Greyhounds second baseman Alexa Hornick and has a lot of respect for her.

Greyhounds outfielder Jenna Hotovec also got a tip of the hat from Lacey Mathiowetz.

“Every time she stepped in the box, I knew it was going to be a battle,” Lacey Mathiowetz said of Hotovec. “I never knew what the outcome of that at-bat would be.”

After a solid 2.32 ERA and 105 strikeouts in 90 1/3 innings last season, Lacey Mathiowetz’s pitching numbers improved further this year. She credited her improvements in the circle to pitching coach Brian Schuck.

“I would attribute a lot of my success to him as he has taught me everything I know,” she said. “As I stepped onto the varsity field for the first time to where I am now, he has taught me so much.”

While her pitching has improved, her improvement at the plate has been a big difference-maker. As a sophomore, she hit .267.

This season, she saw her batting average climb to .468 with 29 hits, 29 runs scored, 14 RBIs and 13 walks.

“Ever since my sophomore year, hitting has been a battle,” she said. “When I was a sophomore, I was not very good. And it was frustrating. I didn’t like that I couldn’t do it, and I wasn’t going to let that defeat me. And I took the advice and the help from my coaches, the constant critiques, the feedback, and I tried to do my best.”

Lacey Mathiowetz said she tried slap hitting her junior year, and while her average went up to .352, she switched back to the right side of the plate and saw even more success.

In addition to assistant coaches Jill Weiss and Katie Bloedow, the Knights are head coached by Lacey Mathiowetz’s mom, Kayla Mathiowetz.

Lacey Mathiowetz said her mom didn’t go easy on her, however, which was OK with her.

“I think a lot of people would think it’s really different to have your mom as a coach,” Lacey Mathiowetz said. “I think early on she kind of made it clear, ‘Just because you’re my kid does not mean you’re going to get special treatment.’ And I was not upset about that all because I wanted her to be my coach. What it was like to have her as my coach, she was like any other coach I had, it just happened to be that we were related.

“But I think even though sometimes when your mom’s explaining to you how to do a drill, it might get a little bit more heated than if it was just an unrelated coach, I think that’s about the only difference, but I tried to keep it very professional.”

But Lacey Mathiowetz admitted it still meant a lot for her to carry on playing the game of softball at her mom’s side.

One major lesson Lacey Mathiowetz said she learned over the course of her high school career was how much the game prepared her for life.

“I would say the biggest lesson was learning just how much you learn about life through a sport,” Lacey Mathiowetz said. “I remember hearing when I was younger, ‘Sports teach you life.’ And I used to think, ‘Yeah, whatever, that’s just some saying that everybody has.’ It’s a sport, you’re competitive, you play, obviously you’re out there to win. But as I got to the varsity level, I was slowly starting to learn lessons.

“And I look back and when this year came and I really had to start reflecting on my past seasons, I just realized how much I had learned from softball about life. I mean, how to be good person to people, how to let mistakes go because mistakes are going to happen and, obviously, that’s a huge part of sports. It literally did, it taught me so much about life and I just hope that those lessons can stick with me the rest of my life.”

Lacey Mathiowetz will begin her next chapter academically and on the softball field at Mayville State University in North Dakota. She will be looking to major in English education and obtain a coaching minor while competing with the Comets softball team.