But the post-season of spring sports plods forward. It feels different from the other prep seasons.
When I was a kid, marching band was big in summer here. Kids
gravitated to the activity. It was considered so important, kids could
get kicked out of practice for misbehavior and they'd want to come back.
Today I'd just throw up my arms and say, "well, I can find other things
to do."
Eventually Legion and VFW baseball take over in summer. These
programs tend to wait until the local prep team is done. Our MACA Tigers
kept on winning on Thursday, May 31, extending their win skein to
eleven. This was with a nifty 7-1 triumph over Fairmont from way down in
southern Minnesota.
This was a Section 3AA winners bracket semi-final game. The site: Marshall.
Coach Mark Torgerson's orange and black crew has come a long way
since the sub-.500 floundering from earlier in the spring. They have
turned on the jets. They came out of the May 31 action with a 15-6
overall record. They are the second-seeded team from the North
sub-section.
Sam Mattson put his pitching arm to work for the Fairmont game. He gained his ninth win with a complete game performance.
He struck out two batters and walked one in his seven innings,
while giving up just three hits and the one run which was unearned. All
three of those hits were singles.
Two pitchers worked for Fairmont: Bruce Holm (the loser) and Luke
Becker. The Tigers outhit Fairmont 14-3. They out-fielded the foe also,
committing one error compared to Fairmont's four.
Mattson had a shutout going for five innings. That one unearned run
came home in the sixth, by which time the Tigers had four runs on the
scoreboard.
The first MACA run came about with multiple bunts. It was a suicide
squeeze bunt that got the run in. Fairmont committed one of its errors
on a bunt.
More Fairmont fielding problems contributed to the MACA run in the third.
The fifth inning saw the Tigers score twice with run-scoring hits
off the bats of Chandler Erickson and Tyler Henrichs. This pair of
Tigers were at it again in the seventh, driving in runs with their bats.
Brody Bahr drove in a run too.
All this offense complemented the steady pitching which has been a trademark through all of the success.
Hitting can be robust too. Tom Holland had two hits in three
at-bats and scored a run. Tanner Picht was two-for-three with two runs
scored. Erickson rapped two hits in four at-bats and drove in two runs.
Henrichs was a sizzling three-for-four, drove in two runs and
scored two. Bahr's boxscore line was two-for-three with one of the hits a
double, and he picked up two ribbies.
The Beckers - Luke and Levi - each had a hit for Fairmont as did Michael Forster.
The June 2 story for Morris Area Chokio Alberta had their win
streak finally snapped. The Tigers fell to the New Ulm Eagles 10-0 at
Legion Park in Marshall. Stay tuned.
Track and field newsmakers too
Katie Holzheimer and MaKenzie Smith qualified for state with their
performances in the Section 6A track and field meet held in Moorhead.
The two runners, both juniors, accelerated to great heights.
Holzheimer sped to a time of 12.84 seconds in the 100-meter dash,
placing second. She was very close to champion Sommer Haugrud of Pelican
Rapids (a 12.72 time).
Holzheimer qualified for state not only in this event but in the
200 meters where her time of 26.02 was good for third. Haugrud was
second in the 200m (25.81). The champion was Sauk Centre's Elizabeth
Hemsworth (25.79).
MaKenzie Smith is a distance specialist. She was clocked at five
minutes, 16.23 seconds in the maximum 3200-meter distance. She was
second to the finish line behind Molly Montonye of C-G-B (5:08.95). Now
it's on to state.
As a team the MACA girls tied with Pelican Rapids for first in
section. No MACA boys qualified for state. Pillager was the champion
boys team.
Hamline University is the site for state which is set for June 8 and 9. Congratulations to the high-achieving Tigers.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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