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Eric Smith

Head Coach

Phone: 952-232-3898

Click here to join the Blazing Cats Informational Meeting March 15th at 5:30 pm

The Blazing Cats will be holding an informational meeting via Google Meet on Monday, March 15th at 5:30. You can also join by phone: ‪(US) +1 401-592-7152‬ PIN: ‪397 634 318‬#. If you are unable to make it, feel free to reach out to me anytime at the contact information above.

The Blazing Cats Want You!

The Blazing Cats Physically Impaired Softball team is looking for players to join in the excitement for our 2021 MSHSL season! Prior to the cancellation of the 2020 season, the Blazing Cats had earned their way to the State Tournament three years in a row! Eligible players must be in 7th-12th grade and have a documented physical disability (contact Coach Smith for more details). Come join the fun!

Blazing Cats PI Adapted Softball Team

The Blazing Cats Physically Impaired Adapted Softball team is starting to build a tradition of winning, including three consecutive trips to the State Tournament! We are very excited for the opportunity to build on the Blazing Cats tradition of fielding competitive teams in this MSHSL sport and having fun while doing so, and we are looking for more players to join us!

This is a great opportunity for students who qualify to join a competitive and FUN spring sport!

Recent Adapted Softball News

Blazing Cats overcome numbers shortage to reach state tourney

By By Mike Shaughnessy 05/25/2017, 8:00am CDT

It’s a built-in disadvantage when you have eight players in a sport that allows you to use nine. But the Blazing Cats PI Division adapted softball players haven’t let it keep them from succeeding.

The Blazing Cats PI Division adapted softball team has qualified for the state tournament for the first time. Photo submitted

The team went 5-5 in the regular season and has qualified for the state tournament for the first time. The state tourney is June 2-3 at Coon Rapids High School.

The Blazing Cats, a co-op program that includes Burnsville, Farmington, Lakeville North, Lakeville South and New Prague high schools, routinely sends CI Division (cognitive impairments) teams to the state adapted tournaments. But the program’s PI Division (physical impairments) teams have struggled to compete, and sometimes had trouble finding enough players. Last fall, the Blazing Cats didn’t have enough players for a PI Division adapted soccer team, so the students who did want to play joined the nearby Dakota United team.

In softball, the Blazing Cats PI squad has been able to work around its numbers shortage. “We usually have just two outfielders, but we’re pretty good in the infield,” said head coach Eric Smith, who works in the Lakeville school district. “Our shortstop (Emma Wilson) does a good job of covering some of the territory in the outfield.”

The Blazing Cats have two seniors, pitcher Emily Grace Swanson and infielder Jerrad Solberg, who have been in the program since seventh grade. Junior Ryan Kane, sophomores Parker Leagjeld, Luke Mettlach and Michael Field, and ninth-grader Cooper Wilson, also are on the roster.

The team was 2-5 through its first seven games, with one of the victories coming by forfeit, but strung together victories over South Suburban, St. Paul Humboldt and Minneapolis South to even its record. The 12-10 victory over Minneapolis South, which came down to the final inning, clinched the Blazing Cats’ state tournament berth.

“We’ve seen the skills improve almost every day,” Smith said. “And being around these kids and their families has been really neat. They stay after the games for treats and Gatorade, and they get together in the off-season.”

The team will graduate 25 percent of its lineup, making recruiting new player a priority not just for softball but for all PI Division sports. Two of Smith’s assistant coaches, Jacob Maas and Kevin Bastyr, are former players and are helping with the recruiting effort.

They hope a state tournament appearance will help with visibility. It’s hard for the Blazing Cats to know what to expect when they get to state. They know they won’t be favored; two teams likely to qualify, Dakota United and Rochester, gave the Blazing Cats four of their five regular-season losses.

Still, “I would say our expectations are pretty high,” Smith said. “We’re playing our best softball of the season, which is what you want going into the state tournament.”

MSHSL Adapted Athletics Video