Triple Play: Owatonna, Blooming Prairie, Triton Baseball Eliminated
Saturday was a tough day for the local nine as three baseball teams were eliminated in section tournament play. Owatonna dropped games to Lakeville North and Farmington. Triton lost to Caledonia and Rochester Lourdes. Blooming Prairie got walked-off by Wabasha-Kellog to end their magical run.
Top-seeded Owatonna saw their stellar season come to an end against a pair of South Suburban teams at Memorial Field in Dundas. After averaging about nine runs a game during the regular season, the Huskies were held to three runs and struck out 22 times against the Panthers and Tigers. The Big Nine champ Huskies end their season at 18-5.
In Saturday's winners' bracket final of the Section 1AAAA tournament, Owatonna didn't get their first base runner until the fifth inning against future Oklahoma State hurler Nathaniel Peterson, who fanned 15 Huskies and allowed four hits, three of those in the bottom of the seventh. Lakeville North won 8-3.
The Huskies only trailed 2-0 entering the fourth, but three straight hits to start that inning forced Owatonna to remove starter Brady Schuster. Matt Segler kept the Panthers' bats quiet for a couple of innings but North added runs in the sixth and seventh off Segler and Tyler Sackett.
In the elimination game against Farmington, the Huskies were held to three hits and struck out seven times in a 5-0 Tigers' win. Lakeville North returns to state for the sixth straight year unless Farmington beats them twice Tuesday in Dundas.
Owatonna seniors include Noah Budach, Tucker Alstead, Brady Schuster, Noah Hudrlik, Dawson Leer, Parker Westphal, Nolan Malo and Abe Havelka.
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Blooming Prairie lost 1-0 to Wabasha-Kellog on a run in the last of the seventh. BP did not get a hit in the game. The Awesome Blossoms had won consecutive elimination games to reach the final four of Section 1A. Seniors on the BP roster include Max Romeo, Jeremy Hocking, Jack Abbe, Lucas Noble, Ethan Arett, Brad Staska and Mitchell Oswald.
Lyle-Pacelli beat Wabasha-Kellog and would need to top Rushford-Peterson twice Tuesday to reach state.
Triton dropped a 1-0 decision to Caledonia in the winners' bracket final of Section 1AA, dropping them into an elimination game against Rochester Lourdes, who the Cobras had beaten for the subsection title earlier in the week. This time the Eagles poured it on for an 17-3, five-inning win. Lourdes would have to beat Caledonia twice to advance to state.
Seniors on the Cobras' roster include Calvin Johnson, Jacob Monson, Nick Roussopoulos, Matthew Hoberg, Peyton Schouweiler, Levi Smith, Jason Kyle Shadow, Josh Willette, Cole Rollins and Brady Essig.