Section 8A baseball teams begin postseason play

The postseasons have begun for the area sports teams as the softball and track squads are in the midst of their tournaments while the golfers and baseball teams will begin their elimination rounds this week.

None of the area softball teams made it very far into the postseason. In Section 6A Cass Lake-Bena eliminated Laporte 10-0 in the first round but the Panthers were blanked 9-0 by Menahga in their next game.

A similar situation occurred in Section 8A as Blackduck lost 13-3 to Lake of the Woods in its opener, Kelliher-Northome dropped a 10-0 decision to Red Lake Falls and Bagley fell 19-1 to Ada-Borup.

The area baseball teams are expected to fare better in the playoffs. The 8A playdowns begin today at the home of the higher seeds and in the East Sub-section Blackduck was ranked No. 1 and Cass Lake-Bena No. 2.

Blackduck will be home and battle either No. 8 Walker-Hackensack-Akeley or No. 9 Laporte. Those teams will tangle at 3:30 p.m. today and the Drakes will take on the winner at 5 p.m.

In the lower bracket No. 7 Kelliher-Northome and No. 10 Red Lake will lock horns at 3:30 p.m. in Cass Lake and the Panthers will face the winner.

Today’s other lower-bracket contest sees No. 6 Lake of the Woods invading No. 3 Nevis. In the upper bracket, No. 4 Fosston will host No. 5 Bagley.

Today’s winners will head to Bemidji State University on Thursday. The East semifinals are set for noon and 2:30 p.m. and the sub-section championship game will be played at 5 p.m.

Both finalists will gain a berth in the section semifinals which are set for June 7 at NCTC. The East champion will face the West runner-up at 1 p.m. and the West Champion will meet the East runner-up at 3:30 p.m.

The winners will return to NCTC on June 9 for the 4 p.m. Section 8A championship game.

Red Lake County holds the top seed in the West and Northern Freeze is ranked second.

State meet berths will be on the line Saturday when the Section 8A track and field meet is held in Park Rapids.

Bagley-Fosston was second in both the boys and girls sub-section meet. To no one’s surprise Analisa Huschle was the star of the sub-section meet as the Bagley-Fosston senior captured individual championships in the 100, 200, long jump and triple jump.

Joining her in the winner’s circle were teammates Marissa Carlson in the 3200 (12:44.72) and Emily Julin in the high jump (5-2). The Flyers also claimed the 4x200 relay as Julin, Courtney Cosca, Alyssa Schmidt and Lynsey Bardwell combined for a time of 1:49.96.

Clearbrook-Gonvick had two sub-section event champions, Carrie Carrigan who took the shot put (31-11) and Angela Burgess who won the discus (91-10).

In the boys division KNB and Bagley-Fosston each claimed two event titles. Tyler Dobmeier of KNB captured the 110 hurdles (19.35) and teammate Caleb Schneider set the pace in the 800 (2:07.84).

Bagley-Fosston’s wins were provided by Mark Goss in the 100 (11.92) and Patrick Thompson in the high jump (6-4).

The Section 8A golfers will be at the Bemidji Town & Country Club today and among the favorites to earn a berth at the state are Dakota Brunelle and Cody Wind of Cass Lake-Bena.

The Panthers won their conference championship and were second in the sub-section. Brunelle has been challenging for medalist honors in most of his meets this spring and Wind is challenging Brunelle.