Momentum is such a fickle thing.

Friday night the Cannon Falls baseball team had a 6-2 lead going into the fifth inning against Belle Plaine and lost 7-6 in the Third District American Legion Baseball Tournament in Cologne.

Belle Plaine opened the scoring with two runs in the second inning.

Cannon Falls starting pitcher Hunter Reinardy walked the first batter of the inning then got two outs before the No. 7 hitter Jake Merecado cranked a no-doubt homer to the right of the scoreboard in left field. The left field fence is 325 feet away from home plate.

Cannon Falls answered in the bottom of the inning by plating two runs themselves. No. 7 hitter Liam Franken smacked a two-run double with one out to even things up. Unfortunately, they couldn't get Franken home.

A big at bat in the inning came from Max Bowen after he hit a grounder that looked to be a tailor-made double-play ball. Cleanup hitter Carlton Lindow walked to open the inning and his courtesy runner Jared Anderson was thrown out on the grounder for the first out but Bowen hustled down the line to beat the throw.

Michael Monson followed with a single before Franken's triple on a 2-2 count.

Cannon Falls added three runs in the third to take the lead.

Jake Christenson opened the inning with a strike out looking. Back-to-back singles by Tanner Carlson and Jason Traynor were followed by a ground out. Bowen then jumped all over a 2-0 pitch for a two-run double and Monson followed with an RBI double of his own.

Cannon Falls was back at it in the bottom of the fourth and had the bases loaded with nobody out, but scored just one run in the inning and that appeared to give Belle Plaine some life.

Designated Hitter Nolan Hartl opened the bottom of the fourth with a single. No. 9 hitter Carter Reber was safe on an error. Belle Plaine starting pitcher Brody Curtiss then hit a batter to load the bases. He struck out Carlson for the first out and then hit Jason Traynor, which allowed Hartl to score and reloaded the bases.

At that point, Belle Plaine made a pitching change to Nathan Herman and he did not disappoint his fans. Hermann got a pop out to the catcher off the bat of Lindown and struck out Bowen to end the inning and Belle Plaine seized the momentum.

In the top of the fifth, a walk of Mercado started the inning. There was a pop out for the first out before No. 9 hitter Andrew Hunsader stroked a single. Carson Ladd hit a deep fly ball for an out and Mercado tagged and scampered to third to put runners at the corners with two outs.

Jerod Miller was hit by a pitch on an 0-1 count and No. 3 hitter Curtiss hammered a three-run double to make it 6-5. Cleanup hitter Herman tied the game with an RBI single scoring Curtiss and it was a brand new game.

Herman would retire the next six batters he faced while Reinardy stayed in the game and pitched well enough to win.

With two outs in the sixth, Belle Plaine would score what would be their winning run.

Cannon Falls went into the bottom of the seventh down just one run and things began well for them. Lindow opened the inning with a single and Anderson came in to run for him.

Max Bowen was asked to bunt and popped it in the air about halfway to the mound. The tall and lanky Herman dove in an attempt to catch the ball and did not, but Anderson was easily thrown out at second because he was waiting to see if the ball would be caught.

On the next pitch, Bowen went to second on a wild pitch so Cannon Falls was in the position they had attempted to be in with the bunt - a runner at second and one out.

Monson popped out to the pitcher and Franken singled to put runners at the corners with two outs.

Reinardy had been hit and came up to hit for the first time in the game and was struck out by Herman to end the Cannon Falls season.

Their final record was 15-9.

Reinardy went the distance and threw 119 pitches on a hot, muggy night, 82 for strikes.

He appeared to get stronger as the game went on, with three of his five strikeouts coming in the final two innings. He also walked three and hit a batter. Two of the three walks scored and so did the hit batsman.

Curtiss had four strikeouts in his three and a third innings of work, walking a batter and hitting two. None of those came home to score.

Herman did not walk a soul or hit a batter and allowed just three hits while facing 14 batters and picked up the win.

Before that game, Montgomery's season was ended by Norwood 10-2.

After Norwood scored two runs to take the lead in the bottom of the first, Montgomery answered with a pair of their own.

Jack Skluzacek opened the inning with a single. Bradley Davis also had a single. They advanced on a wild pitch. Zach Mikel collected an RBI on a fielder's choice. The next batter popped out for the first out.

Mikel and Davis advanced on a passed ball before No. 8 hitter Greg Johnson clubbed an RBI single. A strikeout and a comeback to the pitcher ended the inning, and that's all the scoring Montgomery would have.

Norwood chased starting Montgomery pitcher Isaac Pint out of the game after four innings ahead 7-2.

Saturday's games were rained out so Sunday at 11AM Pine Island will play red hot Norwood in Cologne.

Norwood has outscored their last three opponents 29-9 after losing their opening game of the tournament to Pine Island 3-2.

At 11AM in Norwood Plato will face Belle Plaine. At 1:30PM Holy Family and Watertown play a winner's bracket game. The winner of that game plays at 6:30 against the winner of the Pine Island/Norwood game, and the loser of that contest plays at 4PM against the winner of the Plato/Belle Plaine game.

Those games will determine who is in the finals.

Cannon Falls ends season at Robert G. Fritz Field in Cologne
Cannon Falls ends season at Robert G. Fritz Field in Cologne
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