Every postseason for high school sports teams is often filled with both unbelievable jubilation after wins and gut-wrenching despair following losses, just ask the Prescott Cardinals softball team.

After going on the road and securing a 6-5 win against top-seeded Baldwin-Woodville in the Division 3 sectional semifinal, the Cardinals were riding perhaps the biggest program high since winning a sectional title and playing in a state championship game in 2021.

That high lasted until the Somerset Spartans crushed Prescott’s colossal postseason dreams with a 2-0 victory over the Cardinals in the D3 sectional final at UW-River Falls’ Faye Perkins Stadium on Friday, June 2.

After the loss, Prescott head coach Nick Johnson battled back tears as he spoke to this year’s team in the outfield postgame circle. He eventually emerged from the season-ending discussion and spoke about how hard it is to have that conversation every year.

“The hardest thing to do in coaching by far is that talk right there,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to find the words, but it just wasn’t our day. We didn’t find a way. We played a clean game, they played a clean game, but we just didn’t put a ton of pressure on them.”

Prescott had one of the best offensive teams in the western half of the state this season. However, Somerset junior ace pitcher Hayley Settem appeared to be nearly unhittable on Friday afternoon in River Falls.

The sectional title game was a continuation of her already jaw-dropping postseason pitching performances. She entered the sectional final on the heels of three straight postseason victories. In those contests, she tallied 43 strikeouts and allowed just seven hits against the opposition.

Settem did nearly the same to Prescott, as she struck out 10 Cardinal batters, walked just one and surrendered only four hits in Somerset’s sectional championship win. Her nearly unhittable pitching performance proved to be too much for Johnson’s Cardinals to overcome.

“Credit their pitcher, she’s very good,” Johnson said. “We knew coming in that she’s probably the second-best pitcher we’ve seen all year behind the Superior girl, who is a Division 1 pitcher and is going to a state tournament,” Johnson said. “We knew what we were up against and we didn’t take them lightly. We knew we had to put the ball in play against them and we didn’t.”

The contest between the two Middle Border Conference foes for the right to go to state was an old-fashioned pitchers’ duel. It was Settem for Somerset against Prescott senior ace pitcher Taylor Graf.

Graf was nearly flawless and hadn’t allowed a run through the first four frames. That was until Somerset began the top of the fifth inning with a single, a sacrifice bunt and then an RBI double down the third-base line that made it 1-0 Spartans.

A blunder in the field advanced Somerset’s runner to third base, who scored on a sac fly later in the inning to make it a 2-0 lead for the Spartans. Graf surrendered seven hits and just one earned run in her complete-game performance. She also struck out six batters and walked just one in the season-ending loss.

“We didn’t expect Taylor (Graf) to be perfect,” Johnson said. “We thought we could scrape a couple of runs across. She battled today just as she has battled all year.”

The devastating loss to a sub-.500 Somerset team was the antithesis of the elation of upsetting Baldwin-Woodville in the sectional semifinal just three days earlier. That nerve-wracking win against the state-ranked Blackhawks included multiple lead changes and a whole lot of drama.

Prescott jumped out to a 4-0 lead in that game after scoring a pair of runs in the top of the first and second innings. Baldwin-Woodville scored three in the bottom of the fourth to get within one run, 4-3, and then hit a two-run bomb in the bottom of the fifth to take a 5-4 lead.

The Cardinals scored one run in each of the last two innings to break Baldwin-Woodville’s collective heart and steal a 6-5 victory on the road. Coach Johnson spoke about the highs and lows of sports, especially at the high school level.

“We had a great year, but it’s tough to say that right now because of how it ended,” Johnson said. “They’ll look back and be proud, but this is not how we expected to end it. That’s sports – there is always a winner and a loser. You get the highs of the Baldwin win and the lows of today. It stings, but you’ve got to move on.”

Prescott finished the 2023 campaign 21-6 overall, 12-2 in Middle Border Conference play and earned a share of the league title with Baldwin-Woodville. The success this year was in large part because of another dynamic senior class that has left its fingerprints throughout the program.

“A lot of the seniors had to wait their turn,” Johnson said. “A lot of them were good enough to play as sophomores, but we were fortunate to have such good teams the last two years. They waited patiently and when they got their opportunity, they ran with it. They’re a phenomenal group of kids. It’s going to be tough to say goodbye to our seniors.”

Johnson gave some final parting words regarding his senior class of 2023 and how they have impacted him too.

“I’m so proud of the girls,” Johnson said. “Yeah, the wins come and that’s the fun part of it, but you coach because you love kids. I couldn’t possibly love this group more. It’s emotional and it’s tough saying goodbye to them.”