First Year Coach Has Carlton Poised For Softball Playoffs

Wes Vork-NSO

May 18

Kerry Rodd-NSO

For the first time in many years, the Carlton girl’s softball program is making waves as they head into the sectional tournament. The Bulldogs have reeled off nine straight wins and
have
secured the #1 seed in their subsection of Section 7A. Much of their success can be attributed to first year head coach Brooke Tondryk-Lee who has overseen the rebuilding of the program.

“I believe that girls need to be taught correctly from the beginning,” explained Lee. “Youth coaches need to be on the same page as the high school coaches so there is a smooth transition all the way up.”

Lee knows a lot about making the transition into high school softball. As a youth in Cloquet, she took her team to back-to-back state championships and then went on to start on the varsity for the Lumberjacks as an eighth grader. In her sophomore season, Lee was the top player in the area and she pitched Cloquet to their only state tournament appearance in her senior season in 2002. The Lumberjacks went 2-1 at the Minnesota State High School Softball Tournament and finished as Consolation Champions. From there she went to the University of North Dakota to play DII softball.

“After playing at such a high level in the summers with the best players in the area I was disappointed with my college experience,” Lee commented. “I learned what not to do. To be honest, it was in college that I realized I wanted to be a coach.”

Lee played half of her first collegiate season, but that ended with a broken foot and then in the fall of her second year, she had shoulder surgery before the start of the season and it was at that point she decided not to play again, but instead focus on coaching.

“I graduated from UND with a degree in elementary education and coached junior high softball for two years at a local school in East Grand Forks,” recalled Tondryk-Lee. I then moved to Reno, Nevada for a few years where I taught kindergarten and first grade, but I missed coaching. Right when I moved back from Nevada I heard about the position in Carlton and applied.”

Currently, the Bulldogs are 12-4 on the season and
have secured the #1 subsection seed by closing out the regular season with a string of wins including an impressive 4-3 win over Silver Bay. Last year, prior to Lee’s arrival, the Bulldogs were 4-12 and the year prior to that, they were 1-9.

“Our motto is ‘perfect practice makes perfect’,” stated Lee. “We practice the ‘right’ in everything we do. We still do fundamentals before games and at practice. It does not make sense to just go through the motions. The girls know I am picky and I will and have broken down every skill so each step is done right every time.”

The Bulldogs will open the playoff season at home against Northland-Remer on Tuesday at 5pm at Chub Lake Park. A win on Tuesday would put the Bulldogs in the second round of playoffs in Cohasset next Thursday.

Kerry Rodd can be reached at kerry@northlandsportsonline.com