Jun. 4—The spring playoffs have just begun, and as we celebrate a somewhat normal schedule, we’re already seeing some exciting results.
Just in the last couple of days, the Mankato West golf team advanced to the final round of the very tough Section 2AAA tournament. Leo Gellert shot a four-under-par 68, and Owen Bjork came in at 71 at Ridges at Sand Creek.
If you can advance out of Section 2AAA, you’ve got a chance to win a state championship.
Mankato East opened the Section 2AAA baseball playoffs by scoring seven runs with two outs in the final inning of a quarterfinal game against Hutchinson. It doesn’t get much more exciting than a huge rally like that in a playoff game in front of the home crowd.
A couple of hours later, Mankato West scored eight runs in the fifth inning to end its quarterfinal game against Worthington.
That sets up a third meeting between West and East in the winners’ bracket semifinal Saturday at New Ulm. West won the first two games, though the second was a nail-biting, 6-5 victory just a week ago.
Who knows? The Scarlets and Cougars could end up playing again in the double-elimination tournament.
The Mankato Loyola baseball team is in the very competitive Section 2A, but the Crusaders are still alive heading into the weekend and seem to have enough pitching to remain a dangerous opponent.
Le Sueur-Henderson and Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial are two very good teams in the Section 2AA softball playoffs, and they could end up facing each other on Saturday.
West and East, who split games during the regular season, are the top seeds in the Section 2AAA softball tournament. It seems likely, those teams will play again in the postseason, perhaps twice.
It’s a beautiful time of the year, when it’s nice enough to sit outside and watch postseason sports. We’ve traded in the parkas and mittens for sunglasses and lawn chairs.
And no more masks, not that it was a bad thing. Any inconveniences that adults made were well worth it to get the athletes back in action.
In 10 days, the softball state tournament returns to Caswell Park, which is a hectic, wonderful experience, weather permitting.
The golf state tournament will return to its normal sites, with Class A at Pebble Creek Golf Club, Class AA at Ridges at Sand Creek and Class AAA at Bunker Hills Golf Club. The baseball tournaments are going back to St. Cloud, Jordan and Chaska. The boys and girls track state meets have been moved to St. Michael-Albertville, which is hopefully as good as the previous site at Hamline.
And the best might be yet to come. It’s hard to believe that we were not able to enjoy theses experiences a year ago, but this already has been a great reward for the athletes for a winter of sacrifice.
Chad Courrier is the Free Press sports editor. He’s at 507-344-6353, ccourrier@mankatofreepress.com or on Twitter @ChadCourrier.