New York Mills falls 5-0 to Red Lake Falls in state quarterfinals

New York Mills’ first day at the Class A state softball tournament ended in a 5-0 loss to Red Lake Falls in the quarterfinals Tuesday evening at Caswell Park Field 3 in North Mankato. The No. 7 seed Hornets were held scoreless over five innings as No. 2 seed Red Lake Falls advanced to the Class A semifinals with an F/5 win at 5:30 p.m.

The shutout closed the book on a state-tournament run that New York Mills earned by winning the Section 6A championship just four days earlier. In Swanville, New York Mills topped West Central Area 5-2 on May 28 and 3-1 on May 29 to claim the section title and secure a place in the 2026 Minnesota State High School League tournament field.

Red Lake Falls, which improved to 24-4, arrived in North Mankato as one of the tournament’s most familiar programs. The win was the sixth state appearance in school history, with previous trips in 2012, 2013, 2017, 2022, 2024 and 2026. That experience showed against New York Mills, as Red Lake Falls put together the kind of steady postseason performance that has made it a regular contender on the state stage.

For New York Mills, the final scoreline was only part of the story. The Hornets finished 23-9 and reached state after a difficult section bracket, then ran into a Red Lake Falls team seeded No. 2 in the Class A field. The loss was a hard ending, but it came after New York Mills turned a strong late-season push into the Section 6A title and one of the program’s best runs of the year.

The Class A tournament opened Tuesday at Caswell Park in North Mankato and continued toward Friday’s championship game at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium on the University of Minnesota campus. New York Mills did not move on, but its trip to state, built through two wins over West Central Area and a section crown, left the team among the final eight in Class A and gave Otter Tail County another state-level softball appearance to remember.