John's Journal: The Biggest Little Softball Pitcher In Minnesota

NEW RICHLAND -- In the middle of a game in an early-season stretch of softball dominance, United South Central’s Mariah Anderson threw a pitch that had spectators oohing and aahing late Thursday afternoon. Her fastball is a thing of beauty whenever she fires it, but this specific pitch seemed to come from another, almost otherworldly, level. The ball was a blur as it went from Mariah’s right hand to the mitt in catcher Taylor Schroeder’s left hand, landing explosively.

Fans looked at each other in wonder, as if to say, “Did you see that?!” Even the USC coaches were amazed.

“We said the same thing,” said assistant coach Joe Kuechenmeister, who calls the pitches. “You heard the pop of the glove. Sometimes our catcher will come off complaining about her hand. When Mariah leans back and really fires that ball, it's really something special.”

Indeed, something special is the best way to describe Anderson. She is a junior who stands only 5 feet, 3 inches, but she is making history that stands tall.

Thursday’s game was a 13-0, six-inning Gopher Conference win over New Richland-Hartland-Ellendale-Geneva. Fifteen of 18 NRHEG outs were on strikeouts, while Mariah walked one.

In the Rebels’ previous contest, a 9-0 home victory against Medford, Anderson became only the sixth pitcher in Minnesota high school softball history to record 1,000 strikeouts. Here’s the all-time list …

--1,642 Maddie Damon, Kasson-Mantorville, 2010-2015

--1,309 Carlie Brandt, LeSueur-Henderson, 2011-2016

--1,178 Lindsey Predovich, Virginia, 1998-2003

--1,158 Danielle Schmidt, New Life Academy, 2004-2009

--1,026 Mariah Anderson, United South Central, 2021-2025

Kuechenmeister said reaching the 1,000-strikeout plateau had little impact on Mariah.

“I don't think she really has had that moment, because she's so humble,” he said. “She's never a person that comes off as arrogant. She's a great teammate, she loves being around the girls, and she just elevates everybody else around her, and that's really what makes her special.”

What Anderson has accomplished in her varsity career -- which began in seventh grade and won’t end until the spring of 2026 – is almost unbelievable. Through four games this spring, Mariah has struck out 55 and walked two in 23 innings, throwing two no-hitters. She has six no-hitters overall and one perfect game.

But there’s another sport in which she is equally talented. United South Central, which is in the southern Minnesota town of Wells and has a high school enrollment of 167 students, doesn’t field a gymnastics team. But Anderson has been involved in that sport longer than softball.

Training at K&G Gymnastics in Mankato since she was four years old (she started softball at seven), Mariah was hoping to make it to Mankato in time for a gymnastics workout after Thursday’s game. She was preparing for the USA Gymnastics Region 4 championships this weekend at Minneapolis Convention Center, involving competitors from Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Anderson has experienced success in state, regional and national competitions as an all-around gymnastics competitor.

In the summer she plays with the Peppers softball program in Mankato. In 2023 Anderson pitched her 16-under team to a national championship.

Standing 5-foot-3 is an ideal size for a gymnast but the prototypical softball pitcher is lanky, swinging a long arm like a windmill in whipping the ball toward the plate.

Her coaches say gymnastics had helped Mariah become a better pitcher, and she agrees.

“It definitely does,” she said. “I have lower-body strength and the endurance to be able to get through multiple games a week.”

Anderson throws a fastball, rise ball and changeup, mixing them in an array that makes hitters unsure of what’s coming, much less how to hit it.

“That changeup really just breaks people's ankles,” Kuechenmeister said. “I mean, they just freeze. And she's very, very accurate with it, she has tremendous control with her location. So we can throw high in the zone, we can throw low in the zone. It makes my job easy, because I know she's going to hit that spot, and she's very, very effective.”

The Rebels are much more than a one-player team. United South Central is ranked second in Class A by the Minnesota Softball Coaches Association. Red Lake Falls is No. 1.

Against NRHEG, Anderson led off the game with a sharp single, stole second on the next pitch, moved to third on a groundout and scored on another ground ball. She hit a two-run single in the second inning, a one-run single in the third, flied out in the fourth and belted an RBI double in the sixth.

Teammates Olivia Bungum and Alivia Bruegger had three hits in the game, and the Rebels have hitters up and down the lineup. Anderson’s batting average is a crazy .800 and she has stolen eight bases in four games, Bruegger is hitting .571 with a state-leading 14 RBI, Ivy O’Rourke is hitting .545 and Bungum’s average is .500.

“I love the team aspect of softball and I like the thrill of winning games and having fun with my team,” Mariah said.

She is a natural, well-trained, well-rounded athlete who lets her talent lead the way.

In the pitching circle, “I stay calm,” she said. “I try not to think about what's going on and stay focused on the batter.” And at the plate? “I try to attack early. I try to find a ball I can hit.”

Brandon Neseth, now the head softball coach at Triton High School in Dodge Center, was the USC coach during Anderson’s seventh- and eighth-grade years.

"We pulled her up in the middle of her seventh-grade season,” he said. “Speaking with the junior high coaches at the time, she was simply not getting challenged. In all honesty, Mariah was ready to pitch varsity as early as sixth grade. She was that advanced at a young age.”

When Mariah eclipsed the 1,000-strikeout mark, she posed for postgame photos with her teammates, her coaches and her parents, Kim and Toby. Family support and pitching to her dad is a big part of Anderson’s success.

“She works at it all year round,” said USC head coach Todd Schmidtke. “Her dad really puts in time with her. It seems like every night during the winter they're asking for keys to the gym to get work in.

“She's just gotten so much stronger with her gymnastics, and she's just so athletic.”

Neseth said, “The success she has had is not by accident. Nobody has put more into her craft. From what she does in softball to what she does in gymnastics, she has done more than people can imagine to put herself in this position. Also, there is not a better kid this could be happening to. Mariah is the epitome of what you want in a teammate. She may be soft-spoken but she is a positive leader that girls want to rally behind. “

Mariah is uncertain where her two-sport life will go. She loves softball, she loves gymnastics and she is receiving interest from college coaches in both sports.

“She doesn't know if she wants to do gymnastics, so the bigger schools are not really focused on her right now (in softball),” said Schmidtke. “They’ve talked to her a little bit but she just needs to make a decision.”

On that point, Mariah agrees, saying with a smile, “I need to decide.”

There’s plenty of time for big decisions, as well as more big pitches, big statistics and big wins.

--MSHSL staff member John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Bluesky at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]