MINNEAPOLIS — When Todd Dingmann started coaching softball in Waite Park in 2012, his youth teams took their lumps.

The St. Cloud Cathedral fifth-year head coach admitted that softball in Central Minnesota was just beginning to figure out how to develop youth programs in the sport.

Thirteen years later, Dingmann was all smiles after his Crusaders won the school's first-ever state softball championship victory with a 7-2 triumph over Hawley in the Class 2A championship game on Friday, June 6, at the University of Minnesota's Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.

"This is huge for Central Minnesota softball. ROCORI won (the Class 3A title) today . I'm just so happy for them, and for us. This shows how much softball talent there is in Central Minnesota," Dingmann said. "I started on the Waite Park s

See Full Page