A fair amount of familiar jerseys will be back at Midway Stadium this season as four of the eight Class AAA section champions from 2010 are making the return trip to St. Paul. Two teams will advance from Midway Stadium to Target Field for the championship game next Tuesday. There’s a three-day gap between the semifinals and the championship game, meaning all pitchers should be rested and ready if their team’s fortunate enough to make the finals.
Defending champion Eden Prairie, after dropping an early game in the double-elimination Section 2AAA playoffs, stormed back to claim the section crown by defeating Chanhassen on consecutive evenings. The 21-5 Eagles will take on the 20-6 Rochester Century Panthers, champs of Section 1AAA. Like Eden Prairie, the Panthers overcame an early playoff loss to win the title- they lost to Rochester Mayo early on, then came back to beat Mayo twice to earn the trip to state.
A lot will be settled when Forest Lake and Stillwater meet up in their state quarterfinal. Both members of the Suburban East Conference, the two schools finished tied at the top of the conference with 13-5 records. They split their two meetings this season- Stillwater beating Forest Lake 13-3 at home early in the year with Forest Lake returning the favor 3-0 at their park later. The two schools played each other in the state quarterfinals last year, with Forest Lake shutting out the Ponies 2-0.
The state’s #1 ranked team, Maple Grove, begins their quest for their first title by taking on the Cinderella story of the tournament, Bloomington Kennedy. Kennedy, which started the season by dropping eight of their first nine games, rolled through the Section 6AAA tournament with five straight wins, including a 25-7 victory over Hopkins. Maple Grove’s Crimson posted an undefeated regular season, but then lost to Coon Rapids in the Section 5AAA playoffs. They got their chance at revenge against the Cardinals in the section finals, a chance they wouldn’t waste. The Crimson defeated the Cardinals 9-2 and then 6-4 to claim the Section 5AAA title and to run their overall record to 24-1.
The Burnsville Blaze, champs of the South Suburban Conference, are making their second straight trip to state. They made the title game at Target Field last year (a 7-5 loss to Eden Prairie) and start their return mission against Bemidji, winners of Section 8AAA. The Blaze were dominant in the Section 3AAA playoffs, going 4-0 in the sections and winning the section final over Eastview by the ten-run rule. Bemidji had a bit more work- they survived an extra-inning game plus a one-run game, then had to come back with two consecutive wins over Alexandria to claim the section crown.
The state tournament schedule:
Quarterfinals @ Midway Stadium in St. Paul, Thursday:
10am- Burnsville vs. Bemidji
12:30pm- Rochester Century vs. Eden Prairie
3pm- Maple Grove vs. Bloomington Kennedy
5:30pm- Stillwater vs. Forest Lake
Semifinals @ Midway Stadium, Friday at 12pm and 2:30pm
Finals @ Target Field, Tuesday, June 21, 6pm
Comments