Hayfield junior catcher Grace Mindrup took her fair share of hits, but she wasn’t complaining after the Vikings beat Fillmore Central 4-0 in the SectIon 1A softball title game in Todd Park Thursday.

The win gave the Vikings (21-4 overall) their first state berth since 1999 and it gave Mindrup, who went 2-for-2 with an RBI double that made it 3-0 in the second inning, a big reason to smile.

Mindrup hurt her leg diving for a pop fly in the game and she was also hit in the back twice by two separate fast balls from FC’s Morgan Malley.

“It makes it all worth it. The pain is something I’ll remember, because it’s our first state tournament in awhile,” Mindrup said. “She kind of hit my bad shoulder, but that’s OK, I played through it.”

Mindrup has been a vocal leader on a Vikings team that relies on a lot of young players. She also had a helping hand in Hayfield pitcher Jackie Sanvick getting her third shutout of the postseason.

“Grace calls the game by herself,” Hayfield head coach Jana Wagner said. “She can read the batters by herself. She leads, she makes the calls and she knows the game well.”

Sanvick allowed just four hits in the game, but she had to pitch her way out of a couple of jams as she walked four and the Vikings committed four errors. Sanvick picked up a big strikeout to end the fourth when FC had runners on first and second. Sanvick came through again when she forced three straight FC outs after the Falcons had runners on first and second with no outs in the sixth.

FC had runners on first and second with one out in the seventh and Sanvick was able to avoid trouble a final time.

“I need to pitch strikes. I need to put it in there and let my defense do their work,” said Sanvick, a junior who only pitched in a couple of games last season. “I thought coming in with a young team [this year] we’d have a lot of work to do, but they’ve worked really hard and I’m proud of them.”

If Hayfield ever had a year where it was aiming it the state tournament, it would’ve been last year when the team had current Minnesota Gopher Dani Wagner on the roster, not this year’s team that has six freshman starting. But sometimes things don’t go as planned and sometimes sports bring surprises.

Hayfield senior Bhrett Zahnle, who was 1-for-4 with an RBI Thursday, said the team certainly wasn’t thinking about the Class A state tournament at the beginning of the season.

“We were just going to go with the flow and I didn’t expect to go to state at all, but I’m so glad that we are,” Zahnle said. “We’ve worked as a team, we’ve kept the energy up and we’ve encouraged each other.”

Hayfield will open Class A state tournament play New Life Academy (19-3 overall) 9 a.m. June 4 at Caswell Park in North Mankato. New Life Academy has been the Class runner-up the last two seasons.

Hayfield 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 — 4 4 4

FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 4 3

Hayfield pitching: Jackie Sanvick (W) 7 IP, 4 H, 4 BB, 0 R, 4 K

Hayfield hitting: Grace Mindrup, 2-for-2, double, RBI, 2 HBP; Bhrett Zahnle, 1-for-4, RBI; Kyal Heydt, 0-for-2, BB, HBP; Maggie Streightiff, 0-for-4; Olivia Matti, 1-for-3, R; Alexis Dudycha, 0-for-3; Kate Kruger, 0-for-3, R; Sanvick, 0-for-3, R; Nikki Cortez, 0-for-1; Carrie Rutledge, SB; Alyssa Sotelo, R