Northfield and Lakeville North Baseball Heading to State

Following Northfield's 4-3 walk-off win last night over the Owatonna Huskies, head coach Peter Maus told Power 96 it wasn't the way they scripted it. I'll bet it was the way a lot of the players dreamed the section final to go.

What kid doesn't dream of being the person sliding into home plate with the winning run in the bottom of the last inning or clubbing the game-winning hit to send their team to state?

It was a well-played nail-biter. Just what you want in a section title game. Owatonna led the scoring with a run in the first after Northfield senior starter Cody Polzin struggled to find the umpire's strike zone. Dexter Leer battled to a full count and smacked a single to start the game. That was followed by a hit batsman and back-to-back walks. The second walk to Alex Holcomb produced the run and Owatonna was sitting with the bases loaded and nobody out. Polzin retired the remaining three batters on a pop out, strike out and fly out.

In the bottom of the first, Northfield answered with two runs. Owatonna tried a bit of trickery. The Huskies wanted Brent Solie to get an at-bat so they had him penciled in the lineup card to pitch, never having any intention of him pitching. He hadn't done so all year. But the umpires told head coach Tate Cummins that Solie would have to play in the field in the bottom of the first for one play. That one play was a first pitch ball followed by hitting lead off Raider senior Tommy McDonald. Solie was then lifted for junior Clay Leidall. Northfield greeted Leidall with back-to-back singles by senior Thomas Meland and junior Caleb Malek. Mcdonald scored on a fielder's choice by senior Sam Stuckmeyer and Meland scored on a sacrifice fly by Polzin and the Raiders had a 2-1 lead.

Northfield would score another run in the second inning to extend their lead. Junior Chris Antoine was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning and scored with an awesome slide into home plate when it looked like he was going to be a sure out. He avoided the catcher's tag from in front of the plate and slid across the backstop side with his hand. Antoine broke for home the second senior Joey Eckhoff hit a ground ball to third. The inning ended with a 6-4-3 double play.

Owatonna would make the score 3-2 after a two-out rally in the top of the third. Cleanup hitter Alec Holcomb was walked and then back-to-back singles were clubbed by Grent Wehseler and Sam Hylle.

Polzin worked the first four innings and threw 73 pitches 40 for strikes. He struck out three, walked four and hit two batters while giving up four hits. Sophomore Hunter Koepp entered in the fifth and finished the game. Over the last three innings he threw 43 pitches, 32 for strikes, walked one and struck out three while giving up two hits.

The Huskies ace, senior Isaac Rocha, entered the game in the third and was masterful until the seventh. Rocha was rocked by Northfield in the winner's bracket game Saturday. With one out and runners at first and third in the third, Rocha struck out the five and six hitters in the order to end the inning and then proceeded to retire the next five Raiders. Malek had a two out single in the fifth. Then Rocha retired Northfield in order in the sixth.

Owatonna tied the game in the sixth. Blake Westhphal led the inning with a single and advanced to second on a bunt by Trey Fails that was nearly stabbed back to the pitcher's mound. Koepp elected to get the sure out at first instead of trying to gun down the speedy Westphal at second base. Westphal then scored on a single by No. 9 hitter Nick Medo.

Koepp didn't give Owatonna any hint of a run in the top of the seventh. He faced the four, five and six hitters and got a ball hit weakly back to him, recorded a strike out and another comeback dribbler to the mound.

In the bottom of the seventh, No. 8 hitter in the order, designated hitter Adam Rodgers, led off the inning with a single. Junior Zachary Eddy went in to run at first base. Senior Joey Eckhoff executed a sacrifice bunt with two strikes to advance Eddy into scoring position. Cummins intentionally walked McDonald. Meland worked the count to 1-2 and fought off a good pitch to right field, scoring Eddy from second and the Raiders were section champs.

The No. 7 seed Owatonna Huskies finished their season 12-13 and the top seed Northfield Raiders head to the state told Power 96 he hopes to get a top five seed after a four-loss season but conceded Section 1 doesn't get a lot of respect from the metro coaches. He said, "we'll play whoever we're scheduled to."

If they aren't seeded, the Raiders could face No. 9-ranked Lakeville North. The Panthers captured the Section 3 championship with a 4-2 win over Apple Valley. The Eagles defeated Eastview 2-1 at Alimagnet Park in Burnsville to set up the showdown.

A few section champs are scheduled to be crowned Wednesday evening. Tuesday night, No. 2-rated and Section 2 No. 2-seed Chanhassen ended No. 3-rated and No. 1-seeded Chaska's season 3-2 to advance to state. No. 5-ranked Mahtomedi is the Section 4 champion.

In Section 5, Centennial faces Moundsview at 6PM Wednesday at CHS Field in St. Paul. In Section 6, Robbinsdale Armstrong plays Wayzata at 6PM at Round Lake Park on Wednesday. Same time and day in Section 7, Anoka collides with St. Francis in Forest Lake, and in Section 8 at 4PM, St. Michael-Albertville plays Alexandria. The winner plays Brainerd at 7PM in St. Cloud.

The state tournament opens Thursday, June 11, with all the opening day games in Class AAA played at the new Saints ball park in St. Paul. The consolation bracket games are at Dick Siebert Field in Minneapolis.

The Section 1 Class A champion is Lewiston-Altura. The Cardinals had lost both times they played Hayfield before Tuesday night. The Vikiings needed just one win to head to state but Lewiston-Altura got the sweep with 4-2 and 5-3 victories at Hudson Field in Rochester.

The Section 1 Class AA champ is Rochester Lourdes. The Eagles remain unbeaten after a no doubt 11-1 victory in six innings over Kasson-Mantorville at Mayo Field in Rochester.