ST. PAUL, Minn. — Menomonie standout Reese Barfknecht made her college plans official November 12, signing her National Letter of Intent to join the University of St. Thomas softball program. Barfknecht, a 5-foot-8 outfielder and catcher, is part of the Tommies’ 2026 signing class announced by head coach Jen Trotter.
Barfknecht signed her letter of intent with the NCAA Division I Tommies in a ceremony at Menomonie High School last week. Menomonie’s long distance standout Lauren McCalla also signed a letter of intent to run cross country and track and field at the University of Washington. McCalla had announced her decision earlier this fall.
Trotter said Barfknecht’s athleticism and upside make her an exciting addition to the program.
“Reese is going to be fun to watch as she develops through our program. She is strong, athletic, and has limitless potential,” Trotter said.
Barfknecht will be a key performer this spring for the Mustangs’ softball team, who captured the 2025 WIAA regional trophy. She was a two-time varsity letterwinner in both softball and basketball, earning first-team All–Big Rivers Conference honors and All-District honorable mention. She helped lead Menomonie to a WIAA regional title and sectional appearance as a junior and was named WBCA Academic All-State. Barfknecht hit .455 with six home runs and 32 RBI in 2025.
Barfknecht is expected to major in business at St. Thomas.
MHS Divers at State Meet
Menomonie divers Ofelia Prechel and Sofia Reinhart made the Mustangs’ first appearance at the WIAA Girls Swimming and Diving Championship, Nov. 14, since 2022. Prechel, a sophomore, placed 15th in the Division 2 finals, scoring 293.85 points. Reinhart, a senior, finished 16th in the event with a score of 256.05, giving Menomonie 3.0 team points to finish 31st as a team.
Divers Alexis Kohnke and Kelsie Macke competed at the 2022 WIAA Championships.
Former Stout Coach Moving Up the Twins Ladder
Former UW-Stout baseball coach Toby Gardenhire has been named the major league field coordinator for the Minnesota Twins. Gardenhire, who was the Blue Devils’ head baseball coach from 2012-16, has been in the Twins system for eight years, the last five seasons as the head coach at the Triple-A St. Paul Saints.
I asked Gardenhire what the position entails.
“It’s basically an assistant bench coach,” The 43-year-old Gardenhire said. “I’ll be in charge of a lot of scheduling and organization stuff. My role will be strictly with the big league team. It will be fun.”
Gardenhire is truly one of the good guys. My son, Taylor, is a counselor at Tiffany Creek Elementary School in Boyceville. While working with a few students, he had each of the students write a letter to Gardenhire, telling the coach a little bit about themselves. Gardenhire wrote a personal letter back to each of the students, right during the time he was going through the process to move up to Derek Shelton’s staff.
Now those students have a personal letter from a Major League Baseball coach.
Layne Pitt retired as the longest serving sports information director at UW-Stout and also worked more than a decade at the Dunn County News.
Reese Barfknecht To Take Her Game to St. Thomas by Layne Pitt is licensed under a CC BY SA 4.0 International license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
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